anjali cringed as the blue haired clown began singing off tune. "oh, there once was a girl with tangerine hair, stole my map and left me stranded somewhere. truly a crafty and crooked young lass, but you can't deny she had a spectacular —"
the rest of his words muffled into a pained grunt as zoro tossed him face-first into a barrel. anjali scowled down into the wooden prison, giving it a little kick.
"what a nutjob." anjali commented as she closed the barrel and took a seat atop it, making sure the clown wouldn't even think of escaping.
zoro huffed out a small smile, and the copper haired woman caught sight of the red staining his white bandages and seeping downwards across his chest.
"what the hell? you're bleeding." anjali said worriedly, scanning the pirate hunter with a frown.
the green haired man looked down, his face not at all alarmed at the sight of the crimson liquid.
"i'm fine." zoro replied.
anjali motioned for usopp to take care of buggy. "you're not. let's get those wounds re-bandaged before you bleed out and die on us."
with a small grumble of pretend protest, zoro followed obediently down to the kitchen, trailing behind anjali like a puppy tailed its owner.
"what am i gonna do with you?" she sighed softly as zoro took a seat on the chair, anjali rustling through cabinets in search of bandages.
"here it is." the woman said at last, turning to face the injured bounty hunter.
in silence, anjali helped zoro remove his button-up, exposing his toned arms and bandaged torso and chest.
with gentle fingers, the swordsmaster traced the spreading red stain of blood on his chest. zoro's breath hitched as he winced, exhaling shakily when anjali's fingers left his still injured skin.
"does that hurt?" she whispered softly, and he shook his head 'no', not letting his mouth open, afraid of the unmanly break of his voice that would occur at her touch.
"relax." anjali said with a small grin, her eyes refusing to meet zoro's eyes and see the flaming red overtaking his face. "i'm not gonna kill you or anything."
he took a small breath, holding it before shuddering out an exhale.
"next time, don't move around so much or your wound might reopen." the copper haired woman reprimanded as she gently unfurled the dirty bandages from zoro's skin, her fingers leaving pinpricks of heat all over his aching body.
"i can't just sit around and do nothing." the man grumbled in protest.
anjali met his eye at last, raising an eyebrow. "why not? you were pretty good at it sitting around and doing nothing even before you got injured."
zoro gave her a deadpan look. "very funny."
she giggled softly, beginning to wrap a fresh bandage around zoro's torso and chest.
"are you still thinking about nami?" he asked suddenly, making anjali pause as she was wrapping the roll around zoro's stomach and lower back.
"yeah. d'you think she meant what she said? about using us to get the map?" the woman asked.
zoro thought for a while. "i don't know. when we find her, why don't you ask?"
anjali chuckled humorlessly. "what if her answer isn't the one i want to hear?"
zoro's warm and calloused hand found her own. his big brown eyes bore into anjali's and he offered her a small smile.
"then we'll figure it out from there."
she smiled slightly. "right."
tightening the bandages, anjali quickly helped the green haired man slip on his button-up shirt, smiling proudly.
"wow, this is my finest bandage-work yet! might as well call me the ship medic!" she grinned.
zoro stepped closer, unexpectedly pulling her in and pressing a chaste kiss to her hair. "thank you, pearl."
and he limped out of the kitchen like nothing happened, accidentally almost tripping on his way out.
anjali watched him go, eyes unfocused, face blank, and ears and cheeks blazing red.
"what the. . ." she murmured as she patted away the redness to her face, ignoring the flipping of her stomach and the bubbles forming in her chest.
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⚔︎ AUTHOR'S NOTE !
rlly short chapter today 😣
im so sad we're almost reaching the end of the season i actually loved writing this book😭 hopefully season 2 comes out soon so i can continue the story!!
i wanted to make this a shorter chapter bc it was more of episode 6 and the beginning of episode 7, so the next chapter could be focused on coco village/arlong park so hopefully next update will be a longer chapter!!
a lottt of cute interactions (it was like one scene but wtv) between anjali and zoro, they're finally over the hating each other phase so now i can finally write cute/flirty scenes and use lotsss of physical touch bc that's my love language fr 🎉 anyways i hate buggy but he's so real like he knows what the public wants!!
pls lmk if there are any mistakes in the spelling or anything so i can fix it !
also don't b afraid to vote or comment, i will probably (very likely) reply!!!!
