Work Text:
In the sunlight of day and the dark pitch of night, there was no time to waste on memories or regrets, only on what Zoro needed to do to proceed forward: be it training, more intense training, or sleep.
But, on the rarest of occasions, Zoro would lose what little sleep he managed to find time for to dwell on the long gone past.
He would remember Kuina and his promise to her, to keep his resolve strong when he was frustrated at how slow he was in making it to the top. He would remember the hundreds if not thousands of lives he took and the all encompassing stench of death clinging to his very soul.
Though, on even the rarer of the most rarest occasions, he would remember the few people he did manage to save after all and all the precious moments he was lucky enough to experience with his friends.
So, on this particularly warm night—with a long strand of orange hair tangled around his finger—he remembered how he came to care for this woman sleeping peacefully beside him.
Like a flood bursting free from a dam, the memories came unbidden as he leaned down to kiss her scarred sun-tanned skin.
—-
The first thing he noticed when he met her was her hair.
A young girl, with hair that burned brighter than the flame she was smothering with her bare hands, was willingly saving a stranger despite the immediate danger at her back.
There was no doubt that she was a brave one.
They were just simple observations. A subconscious action he had done over and over again for as long as he’d been alive.
And like any other observation, Zoro would determine how to act accordingly. So, he decided to defend this brave girl, as she had done for his newly appointed captain.
—-
The first time she laughed, he almost missed it.
From her facial expression, she was probably about to yell since it was from something Luffy did—the rubber boy having been the only carefree one out of the three of them back then—but she turned her head away at the last second.
If she hadn’t made it seem like she was hiding something, he wouldn’t have put much thought in it. But as it were, he made more of an effort to observe her. Just a slight tilt of his head and he had a full view of her face.
Her lip had a slight tremble, and a glimpse of her fang appeared as a tiny puff of air escaped her mouth.
With half a mind set on her just suppressing the urge to lash out at the only companion that actively said he wanted her here, Zoro almost closed his eyes for his afternoon nap.
But, then, the corners of her mouth softly lifted—very unlike the times she opened her mouth to shout. It was as if she was only now remembering how to move her mouth, before the gleam of her bright eyes and smile glinted in the sunlight as she quickly brought a fist up in front of her mouth.
At the sight of the hesitant joy on her face, he could tell she wasn’t one to show such a genuinely positive emotion often. He wasn’t one to do that either after all.
Maybe she was hoping to disguise it as a cough, but the sharp snort of laughter that came gave her away.
If he hadn’t been watching her, he might’ve easily dismissed it as a scoff—that’s how brief of a sound it had been. Brief, but… nice… if he had to describe it.
Luffy noticed it, too, and he quickly encouraged her with an even louder laughter.
So, perhaps it was because of the happiness radiating from the only two people with him on that vast sea, but he couldn’t help the rare chuckle from pouring out of his own throat either.
But, perhaps, he felt that it was the promise of their cheerful smiles that made it even harder to stay the stoic swordsman he had been all his life.
—-
Only by chance did he notice that Nami hid much more than just her stolen goods before the events of Arlong Park.
It was during the first stop to town after receiving the Going Merry, when Zoro was left to watch the ship while everyone else went off to do whatever.
He sat cross-legged in front of the main mast, his arms cushioning his head as the peaceful breeze of the island lulled him to sleep.
All was well, until Nami came back way earlier than the planned departure time.
Her footsteps had been light-footed and silent, and Zoro hadn’t heard anything at all—not even a rustle of her loose clothing.
He woke up only when the scent of her citrus shampoo rode the wind towards him.
When he opened his bleary eyes, her blurred figure froze in front of him like a thief caught in the act. She must’ve been trying to reach her room behind him without waking him up.
It was suspicious, so he decided to confront her instead of letting her go on her way.
As he rubbed his vision clear, she had already made it past his line of sight.
He called out her name, wondering if she’d even bother to stop.
She did, he saw as he stepped around the mast.
With the left side of her body hidden in the shadows of her room, she looked back at him over her right shoulder.
Zoro could tell something was immediately off about her. Her eyes looked… different. Wary, maybe.
“What,” she said. She sounded even more annoyed than usual.
As he walked closer, he tore his eyes away from her stony expression to examine the rest of her, to see what may have set her off.
There were tears everywhere in her clothes, revealing lots of skin and the many faint scars riddled underneath. Obviously, they happened long ago to have been that light a color, but it was still surprising.
Zoro gripped her shoulder and turned her to fully face him, to see if there were any fresh injuries on her person.
Thankfully, she wasn’t hurt. At least, none that he could see… her clothes had been the only outward casualty.
She let him look, holding stiff in his grasp, but when his eyes settled on her exposed left shoulder, he caught only a hint of dark blue ink before she shoved it into the dark once more.
Zoro didn’t pry anymore; it wasn’t important at the moment. He stared into her dimmed eyes, waiting for her to say something.
“… I’m fine, I don’t need your concern. If anything, you should worry about the other guy,” she said finally. She seemed to hide even further into herself from the way she unnaturally reverted into a confident pose with that mock of a smile on her face. One that didn’t belong there at all.
She was hurting.
Zoro didn’t know how to ask. He sure as hell didn’t know if she’d open up and even if she did, what could he do but make everything worse, so he could only frown as she disappeared into her room.
He couldn’t reassure her or give her any promises, but he could take action.
He would look out for her. To prevent the hurt instead of heal it. Yea, he could do that.
He ended up training until the rest of the crew showed up, unable to fall back asleep.
—-
When Arlong Park came and she was back to that imposter she liked to wear, he saw the changes immediately and whatever doubts he had were wiped clean.
She was lying through her teeth.
Even as injured as he was, he would damn well give her his all.
She needed their help.
—-
Nami was important. Zoro knew that the moment Luffy called her their navigator. Without her, they’d never get to where they needed to go, along with everything else a navigator did.
So, Zoro made her safety a priority. Whether he, she, or anyone else said otherwise.
So, whenever she was right at the edge of a cliff, looking out at far places, he would warn her to be careful and stand close by to catch her should she slip. She never did, but he’d always be there for her just in case.
Whenever she lagged behind the group to take in the scenery of the new island, he’d look back at intervals to check up on her. Whenever he and her were in the middle of the battlefield together, he would always keep an eye out on how she was holding up.
He looked out for her, and he saved her when she needed him to. He always did.
But the first time he realized that he wasn’t always able to was when she got sick.
After everything was settled at Little Garden, she made a hissing sound—like she was in pain—so he looked over and asked about what was wrong.
She told him it was only a bug bite as he saw her scratch a red spot on her abdomen.
Sounded harmless enough, he thought at the time.
Later on did he realize that he only noticed the mark the enemy left behind and could only watch as she slowly crept closer to death’s door.
When she fell on the deck, he carried her to her bed. When she couldn’t navigate, he took it upon himself to lessen her burden. When she was sweating, bedridden, he tried to make her as comfortable as possible while everyone surveyed the upcoming island.
He looked out for her, but he couldn’t prevent it, like he thought he’d always be able to do. He could only pick up the little pieces and hope she would come out alright.
When Luffy told everyone he would bring Nami to the doctor, Zoro was relieved.
As he stood then, Zoro would only be in the way and then they wouldn’t be able to make it in time. It was someone’s turn to save her.
So, train he did. To overcome future obstacles, harsh conditions, and strengthen himself. To become someone she could rely on.
Because she would survive, because it was Luffy saving her.
Maybe Zoro couldn’t have prevented the bite, but if he’d noticed her symptoms sooner, they could’ve started searching for a doctor as soon as they left Little Garden and she wouldn’t have had to suffer all that pain.
He needed to pay more attention.
—-
Perhaps he started paying too much attention.
He noticed so many things. Too many in fact.
Whenever Nami yelled at him, he’d catch a glimpse of a fond twinkle in her eye. It didn’t lower the volume of her voice though, unfortunately, nor did it stop him from reciprocating.
When she wasn’t nagging him, she had this habit of tapping a finger to her chin or biting the end of her ink pen when she was thinking. When she tended to her mikan trees, she would hum and sway to a silent, off-beat tune. When she drank from a cup, she’d hold it with only her fingertips touching it, and her lips would somehow catch every drop of liquid despite barely grazing the thing. There’d always be lipstick left over when she was done…
There were many more quirks that made her Nami, and even within the privacy of his own mind, it sounded pretty humiliating to think about them all…
But, he didn’t regret looking.
He could tell when she had money on her mind and when she was tired or content. He could tell her feelings at a glance, even when she had those abrupt mood swings or when she tried to conceal them.
By now, he was able to notice even the tiniest little twitch of a muscle. On her or any other person really; she had been a hard subject to observe after all.
When it came down to it, like that time Nami hugged Luffy on Zou, he was the first to grasp the situation. Thus, he was the first to determine what mattered the most and make a sound decision.
Pretty useful, especially since he made sure he wasn’t on that expedition to save that idiot cook.
He wouldn’t be there to watch her, but he was reassured since Luffy and Chopper were with her.
Although, he did feel the hint of regret when Carrot began regaling Nami’s immense power against a mighty Yonko…
—-
Zoro noticed everything.
Of course he saw the signs.
But, it was a whole different matter of understanding what to do with them.
He saw how her cheeks lit red like maple leaves whenever he shoved the both of them close together to avoid danger. He saw her eyes shine his way whenever he looked over at her, and the way she bit her lip while he was training out on the deck for a change…
And the times he accidentally groped her as he saved her ass, she made this cute squeak instead of immediately knocking him on his own ass… Though she’d remember to do just that when they were finally safe again.
He didn’t know what to do with those kinds of information, but they always kept on bothering him when he was trying to concentrate.
It was only when Zoro was barely conscious at one of the worst times he was ever close to death that he understood.
Nami, with tears falling upon his bloody chest, was yelling at him. He couldn’t hear her, but he could see it through the slit of his blurry open eye.
She kept on crying and screaming for a while, and eventually she seemed to have lost all her vibrant energy.
At the worst he’d ever seen her, with her streaming wet eyes dead of all light and her body hung in despair, she bent over his torn torso and pressed her split lips to his.
He felt her breathe life into him as she kissed him with everything she had.
He couldn’t feel anything at the time, not pain or touch, but her kiss seemed to light all his nerves on fire.
Call him sappy, but goddamn, he swore she brought him back from the dead. Maybe not physically, but she did.
When the battle was eventually over and Chopper was able to patch him up, he woke up to find her with her forehead pressed to his bandages.
He sat up, bringing her up along with him, and as he looked upon her bright teary eyes, flushed cheeks, and her happiness slowly turn into anger for worrying her, he understood what he was supposed to do.
Cupping her beautifully bruised face, he smiled into their kiss, glad to be able to respond like he’d wanted to when he was incapacitated.
She hit him after he kissed her senseless, but even then he was glad to be able to feel that again. She told him that kisses needed to be led up to, not forced upon people, though she immediately surprised him with more kisses after that.
Perhaps she felt that this was being led up to for awhile now, too. Though, perhaps that was just his excuse to ravage her then and there, despite the pains still aching in them both…
He felt that he needed some more training in this area.
Thankfully, Nami was there to help him along, like she’d always done.
—-
So, maybe he fell in love the moment he saw her, maybe it was somewhere later on, or maybe only just recently, but it all accumulated to this very moment.
Zoro hummed at the foolishness of wondering when he began loving her; there really was no point in dwelling on the past, as now in the present was all that mattered.
But, sometimes, on the rarest occasions, it was pretty reassuring to remember what happened long ago.
Anyway, that was enough reminiscing for now.
Looking down at her calm face, he wondered how she stayed asleep though all the affections he showered onto her while he was lost in his thoughts. He’d even bit a bruise at the most sensitive part of her neck…
Though, she did cuddle much closer to him than when the night first began.
He smirked as his mind made room for ideas on ways to wake her up.