One Piece: Unforeseen

| Dorama Island (Part 6) |

"And this is the scene where you kill me," Mae said, letting her script droop back so she could look at Zoro. They were on his balcony reading over lines.

"Stab," Zoro read out loud, kicking his feet up on his woven ottoman.

Mae slapped her script against his knee. "You don't say stab, you just stab me."

"Why am I stabbing you again?"

Mae rolled up her script and tucked it into the side of her woven chair. "I've already told you. We've been reading lines for almost a week now, do you even know what this play's about?"

Zoro folded his script. "I know that it's boring." Chucking his script over his shoulder, he crossed his arms behind his head and sunk back into his chair. Tucking his chin into his chest, he closed his eye.

Mae stood up, stretching her arms. They'd been reading lines for hours and her legs were numb with the sensation of pins and needles. "Okay, I'm going to explain it one more time," she said.

She sauntered to the white spiral railing, dusting her fingers over it. "Out of jealousy you and your best friend, Franky, come up with a plan to murder your brother, the eldest prince, Sanji. The jester, Usopp, overhears and tells the Queen, Nami, and King, Luffy. They don't believe him though. Usopp then tells me, the lady-in-waiting. Having fallen in love with the eldest prince, I immediately go to tell him about your plan, but before I can find him I run into you. That's when you tell me the rest of your plan. Your plan is to murder me, let Sanji find me and dwell in despair for a day and then murder him. After you go on and on about your plan, you finally stab me and leave me for dead."

Mae dropped her head hopelessly. "And then Sanji finds me during my last breaths and kisses me..."

Zoro raised his chin to look at her, a brief look of jealousy flitting across his face. But he went stoic when she faced him.

Running both of her hands over her braid repeatedly, Mae bit on her lip and stared at the floor with brooding eyes. "There has to be a way to get out of kissing Sanji," she said. She turned and looked out at the ocean. She stood silent for a while, but then she started to chuckle.

Zoro frowned as she laughed. "What?"

"I almost feel bad," she said, shaking her head nimbly. "Sanji's in the other room ready to kiss me, and here I am trying to think of anything and everything to get out of kissing him." Her shoulders trembled as she continued to laugh.

"I wouldn't feel bad for that pervert."

Mae let her hands fall from her braid, her wrists resting over the rail. "I guess I'm being over dramatic. It's just for show."

Show or not, Zoro wasn't fond of the idea of Sanji kissing her. He wasn't about to tell her that though.

"It's just..." Mae gnawed on her lower lip. "I feel like I'm cheating."

Confused, Zoro's eye narrowed when she said the word cheating.

Mae wistfully watched the horizon as it transitioned into fiery reds and oranges. "The first and last person I kissed was Eito."

"That kid from when you were a slave?"

"Mm." Mae hummed with a small nod.

Just saying his name brought back a rush of memories. Recently she found out he was alive, and yet he hadn't crossed her mind as much as she thought he would. It made her feel selfish. While he was out there searching for her, she was preoccupied with other business.

And rather than celebrating when she heard that he was alive, she just answered a few questions that Aubrey and Rue had and then side-stepped the topic entirely. She even had a moment, a moment that she still couldn't process, between her and Zoro. She wondered if she should've done more to show that she was grateful to hear that he was alive.