tsk tsk. phail. <3
! It was Zoro’s turn to be stunned. He had just now achieved a nice buzz, and the navigator rivaled him in the amount she could drink, despite her much smaller frame. Have I ever see her truly drunk before? Drunk, and not faking it? Zoro tried to remember any occasion and found he couldn’t. His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “I’ve never seen you drunk before,” he said accusingly. “How do I know you aren’t faking just to lull me into some false sense of security? And how do I know you aren’t planning on robbing me blind?” As soon as the words left his mouth, Zoro deeply regretted them. The girl’s face turned even pinker at his words, and she hung her head as if ashamed, swaying slightly. The swordsman grabbed the girl’s chin and forced her to look at him, searching her face. The usually sharp eyes had lost some of their sparkle, and sweat droplets were beading across her brow. Nami’s eyebrows raised at the shock on his face.
! “Told ya so,” she pouted. Pulling away from him, she laid her face in her own hands and moaned. “Aw, hell.”
! Awkward silence now stretched between the pair. Desperate for something to do, Zoro downed three more shots in rapid succession. To his satisfaction, he felt the buzzing in his ears grow louder.
! “Uh…” he floundered for words, searching for words to break the now stifling silence that encircled the pair. Shit! he thought in desperation as his instincts screamed at him to find something, anything to say to make the girl feel a little bit better. His panic only increased when he realized that she was crying large, drunken tears onto the bar counter. “O-oi!” started the swordsman, his alarm growing by the second. He could handle one, two, three swords with grace and style, but a crying girl was something he had absolutely no experience with, aside from knowing that one could be as dangerous and destructive as any katana.
! Nami hiccupped. “Sorry,” she sniffed pathetically. “I’ve just been dealing with a lot of stuff lately, and I… I…” The girl’s lip quiver, eyes once again threatening to spill over with tears. “And the log…!” Her voice broke again.
! “Wait. What’s wrong with the log?” demanded Zoro, suddenly very concerned even through his increasing haze.
! “It’s broken!” wailed the now distraught girl, flinging her wrist at him. “It’s broken, and when I went to a shop to get a new one, the store keeper was—he was—” she took a gasping breath. “—a ray-man! Practically Kuroobi’s twin! He was always—he never—” a fresh wave of sobs broke through now, and the poor girl buried her head in her free arm. Zoro’s panic continued to increase exponentially as he held the sobbing girls hand in his, watching the needle of the log slower waver back and forth. He obviously wasn’t the navigator in thiscrackpot expedition, but he at least knew they needed to do something, fishmen shopkeepers or not.
! “Erm… Kuroobi… was the one that… the shi—er, Sanji beat up, right?” Nami nodded into her arm on the counter. “Well!” Zoro pressed forward, attempting to make his voice sound encouraging. “Why don’t we, erm… get th—Sanji—to go with you… to the store, that is… tomorrow? I’m sure he’d be—uh—happy to accompany you!”
! She looked up at him, her face a blotchy mess. “You think so?” she whimpered.
! “You kidding? Of course he would!” insisted the man, forcing a cramped-looking smile to his face and trying to sound encouraging, praying for his efforts to be successful. Whatever crazy gods were in charge of the universe that evening seemed to like Zoro, and he breathed a sigh of relief when the girl nodded, rubbing her eyes and responding with a pathetic “Ok.”
! Suddenly, Zoro felt a hand on his arm. “Hey sweetie,” purred a silky voice in his ear. “Why don’t you ditch your weepy girlfriend and come spend a little time with me?” Zoro turned his head to discover a hippy brunette smiling seductively at him.
! “No.” Zoro didn’t do polite when he wasn’t interested.
! This didn’t seem to deter the woman. “Aw, come on,” she purred again. “We’ll have some fun.” The swordsman suddenly noticed her other hand on his thigh, moving sensually in circles.
! “Look lady–” Zoro grabbed both her wrists with one hand in one swift motion, holding them firmly in between him and the smiling woman. It was at this point that he heard a thump and a gasp behind him. Turning around, he discovered Nami being held by two large, burly men. One had both her arms behind her back with one hand and his other hand clamped over her mouth, the other was crouched down by her legs, one arm around her waist and the other holding her knees. Nami’s eyes were wide and terrified. She stared at Zoro, pleading for help. “What the--!”
! “She is pretty, I suppose, but you could do sooo much better.” The woman closed the gap between them and pressed herself against him, grinding her hips into his groin. Zoro ignored this and pushed her away with slightly more force than before, keeping his focus on Nami. This made both men chuckle sinisterly, and the one with the grip on her legs leaned down and slowly licked her lower thigh with an evil grin. Nami whimpered and squirmed, trying to get away with no avail.
! “Hey!” Zoro started forward, but then everything happened very quickly. When he felt a biting pain in his hand, he quickly released the woman’s wrists. She grinned at him, a sinister giggle escaping her lips, as she brought a dagger up to lick it seductively. It took a moment for the swordsman to register that the liquid she was licking off was in fact his blood. What? He looked at his hand, and realized she had somehow managed to cut him while he was holding her wrists. A low growl arose in his throat.
! “Ooh, not friendly. It’s too bad. I was really taking a liking to you.” Another, much more urgent whimper from Nami reminded Zoro where his attention needed to be, and he turned back around so that he could free her from her captors. But Nami wasn’t there. The two men were roughly escorting her out the door of the bar. Zoro had to give a wry grin when he saw how difficult she was making it for them, twisting and writhing like a slippery fish, kicking long legs and doing her best to wrestle out of the men’s grasps; for all her efforts, however, they were overpowering her. Zoro panicked. But he wasn’t given much time to linger on this because there was suddenly a sharp, biting pain in his side. With a cry, he fell to his knees. The she-devil had planted her knife in his side. With a haughty laugh, she followed the two men and Nami out the door.
! “Shit!” It took a moment for Zoro to regain his senses, remove the knife with a grunt, and run after the four, unsheathing Wado Ichimonji. He was out of the bar in time to see the woman turning a corner. He quickly pursued. With a yell, he rounded the corner, his heart pounding and adrenaline giving him a satisfying rush as he cornered them in the alleyway. He grinned evilly when he saw the surprise and fright in the female’s eyes and the panic in the two men’s.
! Zoro finished it quickly, first freeing Nami from the hold of the thugs and taking down each one in the process; their female counterpart chose to run instead of testing Zoro’s chivalry. He didn’t follow her. Instead, he turned to his companion, whose legs had given out from under her. Nami now sat, leaning against the wall of the alley, eyes closed, breathing hard. He went to her, offering his hand. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet. “Let’s find someplace to spend the night,” he said quietly. Nami nodded, leaning on him for support as they made their way out of the alley, searching for an inn.
! ~~~~~~~~
! It took her a moment to realize what exactly had happened. First, that annoying bitch was hitting on Zoro. Nami wasn’t terribly drunk, so she still had clarity to understand what was going on and to know that it annoyed her (not to mention made her slightly jealous). Hello, she was right there! That slutty bitch had to be the most obnoxious person ever, practically plastering herself to Zoro like a wet towel. But the next thing she knew, Nami was being restrained and groped by a couple of thugs. She tried to get Zoro to help her, but when he had moved to act, something distracted him; that bitch had cut him? Wait, where did she get the knife? Wasn’t he holding onto her wrists? Nami didn’t have much time to ponder this because suddenly she was being forced out of the bar. She struggled and kicked and tried everything to get away, employing the same method Luffy had used when she had tried to force him to bathe once (he hadn’t taken a bath in ages, what was she supposed to do, throw him in the ocean?), refusing to give her captors a break but rather twisting and turning, always moving and slipping out of their grasp. Unfortunately, she was not made of rubber, so this was not as effective a tactic as it had been for Luffy (in the end, he didn’t take the bath). Her panic increased tenfold when she watched the woman bury her knife into Zoro’s side and follow her companions out of the bar.
! The woman had been about to say something when an animalistic yell sounded in the darkness, echoing into the alleyway. Suddenly, Zoro was everywhere, cutting down the two men and turning on the woman; she had already fled. Obviously she doesn’t expect Zoro to have the same morals as Sanji, Nami thought with a wry grin. Smart. Her legs gave, and she collapsed, leaning against the cold brick of the alley wall. She shivered, covered in a cold sweat as her heart raced and she tried to slow her breathing and calm down. Then a large, strong hand was being offered, and she took it and was lifted to her feet. Suddenly she was very close to him, and could almost feel his heartbeat pounding as loud as hers felt. He’s always saving me, she wondered in her daze. She leaned forward, and he pulled her arm around his shoulder and held her firmly around her waist as they stepped out into the night.
! Nami took a shuddering breath as her heartbeat slowed to a more reasonable pace, and she again realized just how close she was to the swordsman. She breathed in his scent, smiling. He smelled of sweat, alcohol, and hard work; of strength and courage; of honor and determination. It was a nice smell, and it made her feel safe and comforted; her heartbeat steadied a bit more. She breathed in deeply again, leaning in closer to him and burying her nose in his shirt as they walked. “O-oi,” muttered the swordsman at this action. “What are you doing?”
! She giggled and looked up at him. To her surprise, he looked a little embarrassed and scandalized by her attention. “You smell nice,” she explained simply. She giggled again in delight as his slight blush spread across his face.
! “Oi, you’re drunk. Don’t be acting stupid,” he warned, looking away again with pointed determination.
! “aww,” she pouted, pushing him gently. Caught off guard, he stumbled slightly.
! “Hey! Watch it!” he scolded.
! Nami giggled again. Bugging Zoro was fun, but this was just too cute, him being all embarrassed and stuff. She grinned impishly at the swordsman. He glowered back. Suddenly, he reached over and pushed gently on her shoulder. Nami almost fell over.
! “Hey! Watch it!” the navigator said vehemently, and then blushed when she realized she had just echoed the swordsman. He chuckled. “Hpmh!” Nami pouted. They continued walking.
! Out of nowhere, Zoro found himself on the ground and Nami laughing uproariously in his face. He tried to get up, but tripped, and fell again, this time landing in a puddle, splashing the girl who shrieked, still laughing. “What the hell?! What was that for?!” he demanded.
! “Oh, Zoro, you’re so funny!” Nami teased. Then, he pounced, and she screamed in delight as he grabbed her and pulled her down into the puddle with him. Zoro quickly stood up and observed the girl, sitting in the puddle, soaking wet and very confused-looking. He began to laugh heartily at the ridiculous-looking girl. She stuck out her bottom lip, pouting, and held out her hands for him to help her up. He did so, once again, and suddenly she was not the only one to realize just how close they were.
! They stared at each other, not saying a word, focused entirely on the spots where their thighs were pressed against each other, their hands interlaced, torsos almost flush together. Each one tried to ignore how loud their heartbeat was, as warm brown eyes looked up into bright green ones. Their breath mixed, barely creating small clouds in the cooling night air. Neither one moved for what seemed like an eternity.
! A loud noise in the alleyway they had just come from startled the pair, forcing them apart as a cat in quick pursuit of its prey ran from the alley and down the street.
! Nami was the first to speak. “Um… about that place to spend the night…” her voice trailed off.
! “Right,” agreed Zoro. He looked around, trying to make a decision on where to try first. The navigator was way ahead of him, already having taken off down the street, heading for what looked to be a warm, inviting tavern and inn. “O-oi!” the swordsman ran to catch up. By the time he did, she was at the door, entering. “Wait! How do you know this is a good place?” He questioned.
! “I don’t,” she answered plainly. “What I do know is that I’m tired, drunk, and am going to have the devil of a hangover tomorrow morning, so I want to get a room now.”
! The swordsman didn’t argue. Nor did he argue when she only asked for one room (he did, however allow a small mutter of “cheapskate” to escape). He didn’t even argue when there was only one bed in the room (but couldn’t help grumbling about how a double room wasn’t that much more expensive). Zoro just groaned tiredly as he sat on the floor, pulling an extra blanket and pillow from the closet and pealing off his boots and now damp shirt, carefully placing his swords within arms reach. He arranged his makeshift pad and was positioning himself to go to sleep when he noticed Nami watching him from the edge of the bed. “What?”
! “I- I dunno. Thanks,” she said, her face turning an interesting shade of magenta.
! “It was nothing,” he shrugged, moving to turn over and go to sleep, when she suddenly gave a cry.
! “Zoro! Your wound!” She ran across the room and knelt beside him, gingerly placing a hand on the injury. He hissed in pain as her fingers caused stinging shots to run through his side. “Oh! I’m sorry!” Nami ran to the closet and pulled out another sheet and began ripping it into thin strips.
! “Hey! What are you doing?” demanded Zoro.
! “Bandaging your injury! I can’t let you sleep without it receiving some form of treatment, Chopper will never forgive me!” Zoro winced at the prospect of the tiny doctor’s wrath. “Oh, wait!” remembered Nami. “I have to clean it first! I’ll be right back!” she hurried from the room.
! Zoro sighed, scratching his head. I swear, he thought, women can be so damn weird.
! Nami soon returned with hot water and antibiotic ointment, along with a soft clean washrag. He hissed again in protest as she began cleaning the wound with the hot water and rag. “Oh, stop complaining, you big baby! If it gets infected, we’re all screwed!”
Zoro didn’t argue with that, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to argue at all. “Look, you! Be gentle!” pain making his voice hiss through his teeth. When he got no response, he grabbed the girl’s wrist and pulled her to him, glaring into her face. “That hurts.”
! She looked shocked, then her face softened in apology. “I’m sorry, I’ll try to be more gentle.”
! “Ok.” He released her and shifted to give her access to the injury. She began cleaning it again, taking more care to not irritate the enflamed area.
! “I am sorry… It really was my fault…” Nami began.
! “Don’t.” The swordsman cut her off. “I should have been paying better attention to what was going on around us, otherwise I wouldn’t have been caught off guard like that.”
! “But-” she started again.
! Again, he stopped her. “Look, it’s not that big a deal. Besides, I’ve gotten worse, right?” He turned to face her again, doing so on purpose to emphasize his point by showing the gift given to him in his battle with Mihawk.
! She looked down at her hands, a blush once again creeping up her neck. “Yeah…” She turned away to grab the ointment and began carefully applying it to the area around the wound. Once finished with that, she took the makeshift bandages and began wrapping his torso, forcing him to lift his arms and wait patiently for her to finish. Once she was, she tied off the bandage and ripped the excess off. “There.”
! Zoro slowly lowered his arms, and both realized once again just how near to the other they were. Their faces were inches from each other, and they hovered there, neither wanting to look into the other one’s eyes this time, trying to let their eyes fall anywhere else. Finally looking at her, Zoro spoke. “Uh… thanks.”
! “No problem,” Nami whispered, still avoiding his eyes.
! And gently, very gently, he reached up to place a large, calloused hand o the back of her neck, and slowly pressed his lips onto hers. Their eyes slowly closed as it happened, and he carefully pulled her closer to him. She stiffened, but soon relaxed against him, placing one hand on his chest and the other where his neck met his shoulder, deepening the kiss. He began to rub the back of her neck, massaging the stiff muscles in her neck and shoulders. It was soon ended, however, when they both suddenly pulled apart, blushing furiously.
! “Um…” Nami began, not knowing what to say.
! “Right,” Zoro agreed.
! The navigator got up quickly and stripped off her still-damp shirt and skirt, hurriedly getting into the bed and turning out the light. The swordsman tried not to watch, then turned over carefully as to not hurt his wound and laid down.
! “Good night,” Nami whispered to the room.
! Zoro said nothing.