"Tell me more about Shanks!!"
Luffy sat down opposite the beautiful girl who now had her curse undone, and stared at her gleefully, his two hands holding onto her arm to shake her back and forth. She laughed at his enthusiasm, when Zoro came along to watch them from the side, leaning on the wooden pole with his arms crossed.
"Well.. Now that I've gotten my memory back, I do recall my dad always playing with me. I was too young though so I'm not sure. Sorry Luffy!"
"Aww man. I wonder why I didn't know you! We could have been friends since then! And you could have been my crew mate from the start!"
At Luffy's excited tone of voice, she tried even harder to recall some interesting facts about Shanks, but failed to do so. Zoro frowned a little, taking a seat next to his wife.
"Stop shaking her, Luffy."
As much as Zoro loved his captain to bits, he did not want his wife to be so near a lovable man. Mumbling to himself, Zoro pulled her closer to him by the waist, making her stick close to him in one simple swoop. She blushed a little, her eyes not leaving Luffy's smile.
"Shanks hid me from everyone else I think... But he did always wear that straw hat. You should be happy. He would play with me using the hat too, but he never let me have it."
"Aww Shanks... I miss him so much.... And the straw hat, my treasure."
His eyes turning soft, Luffy grabbed onto the straw hat, placing it over his chest to feel some sort of warmth. Zoro couldn't help but chuckle at that, his hand still on her waist.
Sanji came over with a glass of fruit juice, his face all pink and legs shaking. He had been waiting patiently to stop nose bleeding at just the thought of her, and finally showed himself to make eye contact with her, and then the swordsman's hand on her waist. Falling onto the ground with the juice still perfectly balanced on the tray, Sanji managed to pass her the drink, and looked up timidly to see that she was feeding it to both Zoro and Luffy.
"No! Mam!... That was for you and you only..."
"Okay, thank you masterchef!"
"Ma...master....? Masterchef?"
Floating away in a cloud of pink hearts, Sanji almost fainted again, to which Luffy burst out in laughter and chased him about. Zoro tightened the grip on her waist, and whispered into her ear, "Don't praise the stupid lovecook,". His low voice tickling her ear gently, she blushed even harder, leaning on his shoulder affectionately. Zoro moved his hand to her shoulder, securing her in his embrace. Her long locks touching Zoro's arm, he closed his eyes for a while, thinking of how lucky he was to have such a beautiful girl call him husband.
"Zoro."
"Hmm?"
"Thank you again. I can't thank you enough."
"No, thank you for allowing me to experience so much."
"You're too sweet."
Clinging onto his upper body, she pressed her cheek onto his chest, and felt his body heating up in an instant. Zoro couldn't take it anymore— he stood up abruptly, fanning his face furiously and looking away from her. He wasn't used to affection, let alone liking someone this much.
"By the way, did you know that Rosie also disappeared after that?"
"Yeah, I noticed that. I guess you made the right choice in not using your swords. That's what I'd expect from the best swordsman!"
"Hey, stop... I don't wanna be called that without achieving it."
"But you're smiling."
Zoro was about to hit her gently in her forehead for annoying him, but she looked up at him with an adorable smile that resembled a mischievous child filled with glee. Zoro put his hand down immediately, squatting down to grab her head and plant a kiss on her forehead.
"No one can be mad at you. Seriously..."
"Of course, because you'll go after them right? Who won't be scared of your big, gigantic muscles?"
"Seriously!"
This time, Zoro really gave her a soft smack on her shoulder that was moving up and down from laughing too hard. Luffy came back from pleading Sanji into making him some juice, and squatted down in front of them, giggling along despite not knowing what was going on. I'm so, so excited, Luffy thought, that he had someone with Shank's bloodline on his ship. Getting away from Zoro's soft smacks, she noticed Luffy's presence and tugged on his shirt, making him fall onto the floor. Luffy laughed out loud at that, planning to push her back. Zoro sat her down on his lap while sitting cross-legged, making sure Luffy can't push her in any way. Luffy pulled a disappointed face, and she giggled, calling out for the rubber boy.
"So, captain."
"Don't call him captain," Zoro whispered into her ear. She chuckled loudly, adoring him for being so jealous over small things. Luffy cocked his head to the side, feeling bored that he was not included in the joke.
"What's our next step?"
"I can't find Shanks just like that, so..."
"So you've devised a plan?"
"Yeah! The plan is to just keep sailing. Then maybe we'll see Shanks!"
"Uh..."
Zoro nodded his head quietly, used to Luffy's way of handling things. She stared with her mouth wide open, unsure on how to respond to that cheery statement of his.
"Well, okay... I wonder if I can help."
Zoro stretched out his arms to lock her in his embrace from behind, and she leaned back, feeling comforted by his warmth. Luffy saw how relaxed she looked, giggled, and went behind Zoro to hug all of them at once with his stretchy arms, thinking that it was fun to stay in this position. Zoro shook his head— there's no stopping this sunshine boy.
///
"What?!"
"Hehe, didn't know I could do this too!"
It was another peaceful... well, relatively peaceful day on the Sunny. She was trying out everyone's attack styles and weapons, and managed to surpass the average standard of a beginner in less than the first 10 tries for all of theirs. This time, it was Usopp's slingshot skills that she flaunted, succeeding in hitting a small can from far away. Usopp's jaw dropped in an instant, holding up his hand to start counting the weapons she could handle.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.... Goes on and on!"
"Well, thanks to the amazing guidance of the teachers."
Everyone began blushing at that, scratching the back of their heads and waving the compliment away. Nami, who suddenly had a spark of an idea, stuck close to her, whispering, "Should I teach you how to steal, too? Then we can become ultra rich, and..."
"Like this?"
She held up Nami's tangerine that she's been keeping hidden in her pocket for a snack, and smiled gleefully. Nami's mouth opened wide, embarrassed of herself. How can a cat burglar not feel another burglar's presence? Not knowing what to say, Nami kept mum, her shoulders slouched in humiliation.
"I'm just kidding! I already had the tangerine in my hand. I was just lucky."
Out of kindness, she quietly placed the tangerine into Nami's pocket again, acting as if she did not manage to steal it from her. Nami then stood a bit taller, clearing her throat and declaring that she would teach her if that's what she really wanted. Everyone else gawked at her skills and warm-heartedness, falling for her every passing second. To think that people would hate her for being better than them...
"So, what's your choice of weapon? What do you want your main skill to be?"
"Hmm... Nothing, actually. I'll just be adaptable to the situation and keep myself fit. And touch on some weapons here and there."
"Good idea."
Zoro gave her a pet on the head lovingly, making everyone nauseous from the unfamiliar sight of the otherwise stoic swordsman. She grinned at that, her red ribbon earring reflecting the joy reflected in her eyes.
To be continued!!:3