Finally able to stop the thoughts bouncing in my head, I realized my palm was still bleeding as I looked at it blankly, "Oh right."
As a princess, especially because of how convenient my devil fruit was, I rarely got hurt, much less got scars or bled so it was new to me. The dark red liquid spilling from the tiny fingernail marks almost seemed enchanting as it was an unfamiliar yet strangely beautiful sight compared to how my palm usually looks.
"What the fuck happened?" Zoro narrowed his eyes at my palm before pushing my head gently to the direction of the room where Robin, Luffy, and Chopper were in, "Go get that shit checked out before it gets infected."
I had to catch myself from falling over since my feet and balance weren't expecting the push. Finally able to get stable footing again, I turned to Zoro with pout as I held my bleeding palm with my other one, "Chopper has bigger things to worry about than some tiny cuts. A bandaid should do it."
I ignored his calls as I walked towards my room and pulled a bandaid out of my bag and tried to place it on the wound after I washed away the blood, but for some reason it just bled through.
A sigh was heard as I look towards the entrance of the door to see the swordsman looking at me disappointedly, "I tried to tell you, it won't work."
I rolled my eyes and pulled off the useless bandaid, "And what would you know?"
Zoro set down his swords to the side and sat down next to me with a bandage in his hand, "I'd always train too hard sometimes so I'd get cuts on my hands from my swords."
I watched weirdly as he grabbed my wrist and started wrapping my hands. My eyes shift from my hands to his swords that were leaning on a wall unguarded and then to the male, "What's happening?"
"I'm bandaging your hand, what the fuck does it look like?"
My eye twitched at attitude he gave me before I gave him a weird look, "No, but why? Usually I'd expect this from Sanji or Nami, but this is just weird behavior from you. Is the world ending?"
Zoro smacked me on the back of my head before finishing the bandaging, "Shut up," He stood up and grabbed his swords aggressively before walking towards the door.
I looked at my now bandaged hand, my thumb rubbing gently over the bandages with curiosity.
"You know, you're a real pain in the ass!" Zoro had stopped right before he reached the door and then turned to me angrily, ignoring my shocked reaction, "Stop trying to take everything on by yourself, that's not the kind of life you live now."
My eyes widened at the wise, inspirational (and quite uncharacteristic) words that the green haired man spoke.
He turned back around and held the doorknob, "If you wanted to live like that then you should've just stayed on Sinthaya."
And with that he left the room leaving me astounded by his actions.
My eyes drift back to my bandaged hand and then my mind recalls his words before a stifled laugh leaves my lips, turning into a full on chuckle. I placed my hand over my mouth as the smile on my lips refused to leave, even when heat rushed to my cheeks.
~•~
Everyone cheered as Chopper announced that Luffy and Robins heartbeats came back and that they were going to be okay.
Sanji complimented Chopper which led him to blush and do his little dancey dance per usual before the cook left to make some drinks to celebrate.
"Nami, will we be setting out?"
Nami smiled, overjoyed with the news, as she shook her head and grabbed some blankets, "No, not with our captain like that. We have the log, but it's safer to stay here for today."
Usopp slid down the wall in exasperation before falling on the floor limp.
"Oi, what's up with you?"
The long nosed boy didn't bother to answer Zoro's question as he quietly asked himself if strong enemies like that were going to come after them again, "All I did was get flustered..."
I smiled at him as I crouched down and poked his cheek, my head tilting slightly, "You saved Robin from getting shattered didn't you?"
A light seemed to ignite in Usopp's eyes while Zoro told him to get some rest since he was clearly exhausted.
I watched as the swordsman continued on with his day, humming amusingly.
I guess he was just feeling extra caring today...is he always like this?
Deep down I could tell that no matter how irritated we make him or how nonchalant he tries to act, he really does care about all of us. Even those who he's suspicious of considering he didn't hesitate to protect Robin.
~•~
It had been a few days since we left the now iced island and set off to the next one. Sanji was currently serving Nami and Robin drinks with hearts in his eyes while Zoro cursed at him to shut up.
"Yes, yes, my apologies cactus head."
"What did you say you dartboard jerk!?"
"Dar...What'd you say bastard?!"
"Dartboard eyebrows."
I sighed at the helpless duo before looking over the railing to see Luffy intimidating his frozen self. The three boys laughed and giggled with each other.
"He's seriously acting like that after he almost just died..."
I smile at Nami's words before shrugging, "Would he be our captain if he wasn't acting like that?"
Nami shook her head with a smile before telling Luffy to clean up the flour he had put on himself.
"Oi! Nami! What are you eating?!"
"It's a pailie."
"Huh! Sanji Im hungry too! Make me something!"
I sweatdropped at his manners before sweatdropping even more at the duo who were still arguing.
"Sanji! Our captain said he wants some pailie!"
"Yes Nami-swan!"
"Yeah! Potatoes! Potatoes!" Luffy cheered, almost falling off the railing.
The sound of a door opening caught everyone's attention and we all turned to see Robin finally getting up and about.
"Robin! How are you feeling?! Do you feel a chill?" Chopper called up to Robin with a worried expression.
The tall woman smiled down at the reindeer and spoke with a joyful tone, "I'm feeling fine, my excellent doctor."
Chopper started breakdancing out of happiness, his words contradicting his actions as Nami told Robin to take it easy.
"You might feel uneasy after seeing Luffy act like this after experiencing the same near-death experience as you, but ignore him and take your time."
"Yay!" Luffy sent a peace sign to us, proud of himself which caused Nami to scold him.
Sanji left to go make Robin some coffee per her request and everyone left to do their own things again.
I walked over to the other side of the ship to go talk to Robin, but it seemed like she had the same idea as she also seemed to be looking for me.
Upon seeing me, she gave me a small smile and spoke lightly, "Ah, Ms.Journalist. I was just looking for you."
I reflected her smile back at her before gesturing to the side so we can talk, "I was looking for you too."
"Oh? What for?"
I shook my head with a smile, motioning towards her, "Please, you go first."
Robin looked at me curiously before nodding her head, turning towards the ocean instead of me, "I was wondering...what made you want to come back? To the crew I mean."
I followed her actions and looked at the ocean as well, "It was hard, I didn't want to do it at first, but I decided to trust my father along with everyone else at Sinthaya to protect each other."
Robin hummed at the answer, her expression falling as her eyes turned blank.
"This may be insensitive and you don't have to answer but," I paused to give her the chance to intervene, but all she did was look at me questionably, "How do you know Aokiji?"
She seemed to tense up at the name, filling me with guilt before her eyes left my form once again, "I met him when I was a child, just starting out on my own."
I respected the fact that she didn't want to tell me anything else and nodded my head understandingly, "I see, thank you for telling me."
Robin changed the focus off of her and recalled how I said we were friends back on the island, "I would never expect such a lovely girl to be friends with such an intimidating man."
My heart perked up at the compliment as I smiled crookedly, leaning against the railing a bit more, "Yeah, it seems we met two different sides of him. He really is a kind hearted man."
The archeologist nodded at my words, listening closely and watching my expressions before thanking me for the conversation and retrieving her coffee from Sanji.
"Hey Luffy! A frog is doing the front crawl!"
Zoro's shouts caught my attention as I walked back out to the deck to see exactly what Zoro had said.
"What the?" My head tilted to side as I watched the animal in the water, pleasantly weirded out by its unnatural behavior.
Luffy instantly told the other males to change the ships direction and they followed his orders, also wanting to follow the frog.
I scratched my head at my crew members, this time weirded out by their unnatural behavior, "What the?"
Nami came out and scolded Luffy for changing the direction of the ship, but was confused as she heard his explanation. Sanji and Robin quickly backed him up despite Nami's complaints and we headed towards the lighthouse that the frog was taking place in.
A loud ding was heard and we all looked around to try and find out what it was before the ship started to quake and the flashing red light caught our attention.
"You're kidding..." I spoke out disbelief before the boys seemed to collectively understand what was going on and started rowing us the hell out of here.
A train flew by us sending a mass amount of wind past us and loud noises to follow.
"What the heck is this?!" Luffy shouted before seeing the frog from before and pointing to it, "Ah! It got ran over!"
"Grandma! Grandma! There are pirates here!" A young girls voice could be heard as Zoro cursed under his breath.
"Crap someone came out of the lighthouse, this isn't good."
Turns out there was an old lady, a little girl, and a um...well their pet at the lighthouse. They were very kind and a little bit of odd balls but they gave us a map of this 'Water 7' place and bid us farewell saying they'll see us there.
"I can't wait to get a shipwright!" Luffy hopped up and down as the boys sat in a circle discussing what this new crew member would be like.
"What about you, Y/n?" Luffy grinned in my face as his eyes held nothing but excitement, "What do you hope he's like?"
I hummed, trying to picture a new crew member, but failing miserably. I smiled weakly at the boy, "I just hope he's as weird as all of us!"
"Hey! Not all of us are weird!" I hear Nami shout from above me to which roll my eyes and let out a chuckle.
"Forget about that! What about what he looks like?!" Luffy looked at me innocently with a wide grin on his face before opening his arms up, "I want him to be really big and muscular! A man's man!"
I tilted my head helplessly at the boy and his vivid imagination as the others leaned in curiously for some reason, "Hmm well, maybe tall and not as big as that Luffy, but definitely still strong! I want them to have a confident energy around them, but also very smart too!"
Sanji seemed to be counting his fingers for before smiling triumphantly at some mental conclusion he came to.
Usopp put his hand up and shook his head with a blank face, "No Sanji."