"Let's go then," Nami folds her arms, ending the conversation for everyone.
After Iris arrived safe and sound to the Sunny, the marine ship fired up its engines and started chasing them. It took three entire colas to finally loose them. Franky was worried about the lack of fuel for the journey ahead, so he voiced his concerns to the group. Sanji also spoke up, since the fight with the marines, though rather short, left Luffy hungry, and the captain had no better idea than to assault the kitchen that same night. Needless to say, the straw hats food supply was not the same after that, and there was no way of getting to Sabaody Archipelago without a quick stop to refill the tanks.
Nami, as the sensible navigator she is, looked for a place that could meet their needs nearby, and found a tropical island not so far away. The log pose doesn't show its location, but the maps and notes she stole from the marine ship, along with several shiny objects, suggested that such an island exists only two days to the south. With some luck they can finish their business there and return to the original plan in five.
The first glimpses of Scholé island promise nothing but nice weather, white sand and utter calm. There's a fairly populated town to the east, a rainforest to the west, and a decent port to dock the Sunny in between. Most importantly, there are no marines in sight.
Robin was organising her backpack in the girls' room when Nami appeared, having already parked the ship herself.
"So, while the guys get everything ready, why don't we have a girls' day and head to town?"
"I was thinking about going there too, actually. I've read this island has a rather impressive collection of ancient books in the public library."
"Oh, c'mon, let's go shopping first! I need a new bikini."
"Why don't you ask Iris? She's been a bit down since she met her brother," Robin kept folding clothes as she spoke.
"I know. That's why I was thinking on girls' time," the redhead passes her a parasol that was meant to go in the bag, "Don't you think that hanging out with us will do her good? You can read any other day."
Closing the bag, and turning to face Nami, the archaeologist sighs, "Well, now that you put it that way... Have you told her already?"
"Yep. It took some backs and forths, but she'll come," she winks.
Robin chuckles, aware of how convincing her friend can be when she proposes to, "I guess it's for the best. See you in five, then."
----
The streets ahead of us seem to be accompanied by rows and rows of shops, mostly boutiques. Colourful fabrics and glittery materials peek through the windows, doing their best to seduce the eyes of potential customers. Thankfully, there are not many people wandering the streets, which creates a nice, relaxed atmosphere for shopping with friends.
Nami's chaining my right arm with hers, while Robin walks to my left with a parasol covering the three of us. The redhead was excited this morning, finally being able to get a day for ourselves, in her words, and she nagged me to death until I accepted to go shopping with them.
I didn't feel like going anywhere to be honest; the last encounter with my brother drowned all my energy and I've been trying to not be a burden, but my mood has been terrible. To spare everyone from it, I've been trying to focus on developing my painting skills and training, though, mostly, I've been staring at that damned snail transponder Deliops gave me.
"I think that colour would suit you, what do you say?" Nami snaps me out of my thoughts.
We are facing a shop window, where a mannequin wears a crochet dress with a thin golden belt at the waist. The dress reveals a dark green bikini set underneath, and to top it off, a straw hat, albeit much larger than Luffy's, and this one isn't yellow. The whole set matches, from the hat to the sandals at the bottom, which have touches of dark green and gold. It's cute, though I don't think I can afford it. I spent most of my money on painting supplies.
Nami simply dismissed my reasoning with a waving hand, "It's my treat. Go try it on."
Robin and I looked at each other as if to confirm the other heard the same thing, and we look back at her with wide eyes.
"Well, this is new," Robin chuckles.
"Are you feeling okay?" I put my hand on her forehead to check her temperature.
Nami tosses my hand back, "Shut it and try it on before I change my mind!"
I do as she says, secretly making a wish because this is rarer than a shooting star appearing on the sky. We enter the shop, ask the lady working there to get the whole set and I quickly put it on in a little stall at the back, Nami and Robin expectantly at the other side of the curtain.
I must say, this particular shade of green does suit me. The string bikini is a bit revealing, but comfy. Though there is high risk of ending up naked depending on the ferocity of the ocean. For precaution's sake, I knotted it twice. Once that's taken care of, I put on the sundress and, I have to recognize, Nami's taste is flawless. It not only fits like a glove, but the dress also hugs my upper body in all the right places, and then falls messily around my thighs, giving it a playful yet sensual air to it. I love it.
Once ready, I make my theatrical appearance by swiftly opening the curtain and posing, "How do I look?"
Nami and Robin stand from their seats to see me, and by the look on their faces, we are in tune. Yep, we are taking it.
Nami smiles widely, "Now, this will catch Zoro's eye for sure!"
"Wh—? You know? He told you?" I can't believe the man who mostly communicates with grunts took time to announce something like that??
"Told us what, Iris?" Robin calm voice obviously hints at hidden knowledge, as is always the case with her.
"What do you mean what, about the other night at..." I stop in my tracks. Shit. I sigh, "I've just outed myself, haven't I?"
Robin chuckles, "You two haven't been exactly discreet anyway. Though I'm really interested in what happened that 'other night' now."
"Yeah! I want to know every detail." Nami exclaims, "Take it as payment for the outfit."
"Wasn't it your treat?" I huff, feigning annoyance. I'm glad to have girlfriends to talk about this stuff, actually. I've been so worried about the more pressing matters involving my brother that I have completely forgotten about the good news.
Besides, it's been a while since we got to spend an afternoon together, "Alright, but I want a drink!"
"There is a bar at the next turn," Robin offers, and that's all the cue needed to pay and go in search of a bloody mary and some seats.
----
"...and then Deliops showed up, and the moment went to shit."
"He said it's not fleeting?!" Iris that's basically asking for your hand in marriage from a guy like him!"
Robin nods, sipping her drink.
My cheeks hurt from smiling so much at this point, "You think?" I do think that he was being serious, but hearing it from Nami again planted one of those smiles on my face I can't get rid of.
"And you wonder how we knew," Nami rolls her eyes and gently nudges Robin's arm.
"Young love," Robin chuckles.
I laugh, feeling my cheeks grow hot, "Can we change the subject? It's embarrassing."
"It serves you right! I can't believe you didn't tell us sooner; we literally live together!"
"Well, I've been busy," I pout.
"Yeah, busy playing around with the swordman," Nami's tone makes me choke on my drink.
"Don't make it sound so dirty!"
Robin laughs, "It'd be fun to have little green-haired babies running around the ship."
"I can't even put into words how much I'm not ready for that."
"Maybe blue-haired kids will be arriving earlier though," Nami winks at Robin.
For once, something catches Robin off guard, and Nami and I burst out laughing at her expression.
In between gasps, Nami calls the waiter, "Another round!" and the lively conversation continues.
When our glasses are empty and Nami's wallet refuses to share anymore, we head to the beach. Three towels and an umbrella are waiting for us near the Sunny. Without questioning how much in advance Nami has planned this little hang-out, I gladly take my seat and prepare to spend the remaining of the afternoon sunbathing in peace. The cherry on top of this awesome day.
"Hey, thanks, I really needed this," I say, already lying on my towel.
"I know," Nami beams, "Can you put some sunscreen on my back?"
As I'm helping Nami, I hear light footsteps coming from behind.
"Oh, well, it seems our peace is over," Robin whispers, and a second later Sanji appears in our vision.
"Oh, mademoiselles," the blond exclaims, hearts in his eyes, "This must be a mirage, am I in heaven?"
"Hi, Sanji! Is everything ready?" I greet him, "We have to go already?"
Sanji babbles something about beauty and death, but Nami's voice overcomes his, "I think we can stay 'till tomorrow. It will be night soon anyway, and the others haven't arrived yet," she shrugs.
The cook nodded and offered to prepare some drinks for us, after which he swirled away, nose bleeding compliments to the Sunny. We were left to enjoy our tattered peace for some more. Though, it's only matter of time before everyone else comes back from their chores. The sun's still up strong, its rays the complement of the cosy, comfortable day I have been enjoying so far. The breeze is just perfect; not too cold to make me shiver, but enough to soothe the heat. It's as if the day's pleading me to take a nap.
...
I couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour when the sudden loss of warmth startled me back to my senses. I opened my eyes, just to see an eclipse. Oh, well. To be more precise, an eclipse the size of a man, blocking my precious sun only to me.
"Excuse me, sir! Would you mind moving— Oh... Hi."
"Sir?" Zoro mocks, half a smirk on his face as he looks down to meet my eyes.
With my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, I can see he looks sweaty, locks of hair wet and pressed to his forehead, his skin a bit red from the exposition to the sun, his red and white striped t-shirt open, displaying his chest, scar and all. I've never realised how good that scar looks on him. And knowing the story behind it only makes it more attractive. He's often shirtless while he trains, but seeing him from this angle is messing with my head.
"I've finished with the stupid list," the swordman blurts out, throwing a paper towards Nami.
The navigator catches the chores list and nods, "Great, you are free for today then."
Finished the important matters, I see her face twist into that expression she typically has when she is planning something sneaky. I roll my eyes at her, amused.
"Robin, didn't you want to go take a look at some books?" Nami sounds innocent, "I'm coming with you, I still need a new swimsuit."
With a devious wink, Nami waves us both goodbye, Robin quickly following her. It takes them a minute to vanish back down the streets we had come from, and I watch them go, not sure what to do now.
The pieces of orange and pink cotton that frame the sky are a perfect complement to the blue ocean beneath, another couple with great chemistry, I must say. The idea of the landscape and us having a private double date makes me giggle.
The swordman looks back at me. His face is blank as he unabashedly scans me from head to toe, making me wish I could burry myself in the sand, "New clothes?"
"Yeah. Can you believe Nami paid for it?" I tap the place next to me, inviting him to sit.
"Seriously? When it comes to that woman, nothing is for free, you know, right?"
Zoro sits next to me, his knee making contact with mine. We are both sitting cross-leggedd, watching the sun set.
"Yeah," I chuckle, "Guess she will make me pay it up some other way."
I'm fairly certain, given how Nami is, that her gift has something to do with me and Zoro, though. I wouldn't put it past her to be playing some betting game with the crew, and honestly, if it means free clothes and impressing him along the way, I can't complain.
"So, how was your day?"
"Boring. That woman gave me the worst chores."
"In other words, she gave you the ones that didn't require much effort. You are still in pretty bad shape, remember?"
"I'm fine already," he complains.
"Sure. Fine," I roll my eyes. He does seem fine, but that's just because he makes an effort to look tough. And he's been more serious than he usually is, too, even before the whole Deliops' circus. Zoro's been training harder since Thriller Bark, demanding too much of himself. He ends up exhausted and it's obvious that's not healthy. I wish I could help somehow, but he rarely, as in 'never', wants to talk about what happened, and I've tried, a lot. Guess I'll have to find another way to help him unwind.
"So, if you are fine, I could...let's say..." I kneel in my place and prepare, "do this?"
As I finish my question, I unleash a tickle storm on an unsuspecting Zoro, "Oi! Stop it!"
"No way!" I'm on top of him, roaming my treacherous tickles all over his sides and it's a sight to behold; Despite Zoro's complaints, he's squirming under my touch, laughing. I laugh too, entranced on how pretty and fun this little torture has become. In reality, he could throw me flying at any moment, that's how I know he's enjoying this despite being very vocally against. Which is cute.
His warnings go to deaf ears as I move my hands to his neck since something tells me he's most sensitive there. And bingo; the man seems to have lost every last shred of his stoic attitude. The timbre of his laugh is something else, something divine. It's a melody I wish I could record.
In a flash, he sits up and grabs my wrists, and for a moment, we get to a standstill; His laugh dies down, but his smirk prevails. With his hands holding my wrists up, we lock eyes, our faces close, as close as not so long ago, and I feel butterflies violently tickle my insides. His grey eyes remain on mine, then trip down, with a sly grin that premonitions payback.
"Wait, Zoro-"
His rough arms tackle me back and, unfortunately for me, it turns out I'm much more ticklish than he is. It's my turn to squirm and laugh, turning and tossing on the sand as Zoro shows no compassion, finding all my most vulnerable spots like a pro. "Please! Mercy!"
"You started it!" He walks his fingers towards the back of my knees, and I lose it completely.
Tears rolling and out of breath, I throw my hand to latch at the collar of his t-shirt and tug hard. Zoro loses balance and lands face on my chest. Without time to feel embarrassed, I secure my legs around him so that he cannot move back.
"Surrender," I pant.
Zoro uses his hands at my sides to rise a bit and looks at me, surprised, blushing, but still that cocky smile on his face. That handsome devilish smile of his. He moves his hips, trying to free himself, but I'm playing vine.
"You brat," defeated, he changes tactics. Hugging me by the waist, he rests his head on my collarbone. I can hear his heart thumping, and I'm sure he can hear mine.
We stay like this for a while, returning to our normal breathing. It's nice. The sunset has been doing what it usually does while we were busy, and now there are other colours on the scene, purple and pink mixing with the orange that has shrunk a bit since I last paid attention to it.
"It's getting late," Zoro's voice kisses my skin, another kind of delightful tickle.
"Nami said we were staying the night here."
He mumbles a "Good" without any signal of wanting to leave, so we stay. At some point I find myself playing with his hair, still watching the sun depart. Moments with Zoro often have me acting on impulse, it's like my body finds a rhythm of its own with him, and my brain is stuck as a witness, unable to process all the emotions at once.
"This is nice," I whisper, seeing the last of today's sun disappear.
"Hmm."
As I close my eyes, prepared to let myself drift away, I sense a bright stain getting closer, a furious pink swirling its way here. "Ugh, Sanji's coming back already."
"What? How do you know," Zoro raises his head to face me.
"I can sense his aura. He's all mushy and hearts."
"You can sense...?"
"Yeah, it's a gift or something." I shrug, "Eulogie said it's normal."
Zoro was about to say something, probably a question by the look on his face, when a small spot dressed in his usual formal tie and t-shirt in the distance made him stop.
"Nami-awaaan"
Hearing the cook's enamoured calls, Zoro gently rose to his feet, and then helped me up as well. We were dusting off the sand from our clothes when Sanji arrived.
"Oh, you are here already, mosshead," the cook gives an unimpressed gesture, "It's a good thing, actually. We need to set up a fire. Luffy wants to sleep on the beach."
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Happy New Year!
This chapter and the next will have less to do with the plot and more to do with gratuitous fluff and maybe even smut if I get inspired. I've never done anything like that, so we'll see.
Anyway, the reason is that a) I'm finding it harder and harder to stick to the original idea, so I need time to think, and b) I feel like I haven't given them enough time together to just be cute and goofy.
That said, I'm short on ideas, so if you have any I invite you to stop by my dms.
Anyway, I was hoping to finish this by the New Year, but clearly that's not going to be the case. Big things are happening in my life; I've just left school and I'm moving to another continent to live on my own, so, you know, fingers crossed. I'll try to finish this story by February, and if you see more typos than usual, it's probably because I don't proofread anymore (and also English is not my mother tongue).