One Piece:
Close Cousins: Embarrassment & Humility
He watched her; from the corner of his eye, he regarded her with caution and care. He knew very well why she was laying so nonchalantly on her usual blue beach chair, wearing her favourite red bikini. He understood her plans as she leaned forward to grab the yellow sun tan lotion bottle, giving any deck-dwellers a blatant look down her cleavage. He recognized that twinkle in her eyes while she rubbed a small dab of the creamy substance down her own long creamy calves, making her body look even more shapely then he already knew it to be. He could only glare harder when she sighed with a high note of satisfaction once she had become a shining display of feminine beauty. Growling to himself, he bore his teeth towards his staff of weights and began to swing with a stronger, tighter force.
"What's the matter, Zoro?" she called to him, with such a low, heated, yet innocent voice. It was a tone that was uniquely Nami. Something that had been one of his pet peeves about her since their stay at the Baratie.
"Nothing. Why?" He felt the urge to throw his training weights at his head, regretting the small fact that he had just baited her on.
"Mm, no reason," --same voice, no genuine care evident-- "You just suddenly growled. I thought you were either sore from your work-out, or you were trying to make me hot for you."
He felt his right eyebrow twitch, his body greatly displeased with the deep color that flushed his face, "As if. I'm out here to train, not look at you." He felt somewhat elevated by his smart reply, figuring it would repel any unnecessary words that would cause him to be uneasy within his own training space, the space that he had arrived to first.
"Really?" The word sounded to be one of a casual tone, which gave him the strength to lift his weights again with no access baggage in his mind. However, he realized a bit too late he would never be so lucky. Suddenly the most seductive words he had ever heard uttered by anyone towards him were whispered right into his unsuspecting left ear, "Because I could have sworn I saw you looking down my cleavage while I was bent over."
Biting back the sound that wished to escape his mouth, he blushed madly just as he threw his weights away from him and gave her his angriest of demonic glares, "Dammit Nami, leave me alone! What the hell did I ever d—"
"HEY!" the loud, charismatic voice of the crew's blue-haired shipwright boomed, "DON'T ATTACK THE SUNNY!"
"Sorry Franky." Zoro answered with the tiniest sound of compassion, tossing his head back in the time that he spoke to look at the man, and then turning back around to continue his glaring contest with the red-head before him.
"You're helping me if there's any repairs!" Franky called with a few fumes before withdrawing his giant arm and head back inside through the Crow's Nest's window.
"So, you were saying?" whether it was her spunk or her over-active need to play around, he was not going to compete with her. Releasing a heavy breath through his nose, he continued his previous statement with more refinery, "Why are you bothering me when I'm not doing anything to bother you?"
"Yes you are," she counteracted, "You're bothering me by making weird sex-like noises, then getting so worked up over my little observations. I don't need to hear or see that."
"I was growling because you shouldn't even be near me when I'm training, and I'm getting worked up because you were whispering weird things in my ear while I was trying to concentrate."
"Oh, is that what you were doing when you were ogling my breasts?" she purposely shuffled all her body weight to one side as she brought her arms behind her back, right as her chest bounced so accordingly to the pace of her movement, "That explains why you sounded so enticed."
He growled again, doing his best to make his frustration obvious, feeling both belittled and outraged, "I was NOT looking at your chest!"
"I saw you." She sang so cheerfully, as if she had already won the round.
"I only looked at you because you're so damn shiny, I can't see a damn thing! Why don't you go tan somewhere else?!" He decided to let his anger be his fuel to victory, letting his annoyance show clearly in his words.
"But if your back is to me, how can you tell if I'm shiny or not? You like looking at my body that much? And if you want your own space, why aren't you training in the training space upstairs? I'm free to use the deck however I want."
A vein throbbed in his forehead, "If Franky is up there, do you really think there's enough room?"
"Yes."
"There isn't! The room got so damn hot after one minute, even with the windows opened! It was ridiculous! Besides, I got here first so I should be able to use this space of the deck however I want!"
"You didn't say you didn't like looking at my body." She giggled so cheerfully, winking to him with her typical sly look.
He became overenthusiastic about the situation due to rage, "Because I DON'T!"
Her laughing began to echo throughout the large and empty space, the sounds almost targeting him as they bounced off the walls and resounded loudly. Her joyous expression by his displeasure gave reason for his dislike to deepen even more so. Her arms began to wrap around her stomach, giving the impression she was laughing beyond her usual limit. His eyes became darker, and his muscles pulsed, "JUST SHUT UP!"
"I-I'm sorry, Zoro," she barely said through her fit, "B-But you're just so fun to tease! It's so easy, b-but so much fun! Ah ha!"
He felt incredibly embarrassed by this point. How he let such a small and yet cunning girl overtake him in any form of battle was so demeaning to his manhood. Moments began to flash in his head, as if to remind him of other points in time that she had made him feel such indignation. Her enjoyment of his torture was not something he wanted to ever see again. Each time, he had given in and let her walk all over him. Each time, he accepted the terms and was too lazy to take it a step farther. Seeing the color red flash over his sight, he decided then to carry out what he should have done long before this event occurred.
Nami continued her little spasm while walking back toward her chair and resting back against it, trying to ease the pain in her gut. Immediately, he approached her, his eyes becoming more serious and his mind more tactful then before. Looking down at her with a grim expression, he waited until she was done wiping away a fallen tear and was looking into his eyes before speaking his mind. "I'm sick of you bothering me."
"Aw, don't be such a downer, Zoro," Nami waved him off, as if the matter was meaningless, "It's all in the spirit of fun."
"I hate the way you use me to have fun."
"Well, too bad."
"No, it's not too bad. I want you to stop bothering me while I'm training, and get rid of that stupid debt too." She saw the intensity he was emitting; he was dead serious. She didn't enjoy this sight of the swordsman and instantly her happy-go-lucky feeling had evaporated. She too, became serious, and looked at him with an equally stern visage.
"That's not possible. You owe me money for many occasions and you need to face up to it."
"This all started because I borrowed some money, and then returned it. There's no reason for you to—"
"You have other moments, even after that, that would create a debt for me." Her look was still serious, but visibly calmer then his was. Again, his temper boiled; he hated when she would be so calm while he certainly wasn't.
"You only made up those numbers. I owe you nothing. Besides, I've saved your life so many times," –he knew that would bother her— "I should be debt-free. I should be charging you. But I won't, because I don't need money to make me happy. So get rid of it and stop bothering me."
"No." He wondered in that second if he shouldn't have made her angry with his smarter-then-usual comeback, "I have a better idea. Let's make a wager. Or rather, let's have a contest."
"What?" he was thrown for a loop; how could she think about goofing off while they were discuss something that was important to him?
"We'll make a deal. If you win, the debt is gone, and I will never bother you with my silly little antics again. But if I happen to win, by some rare occasion," –she mocked— "then you will forever be indebted to me, and will become my slave, forever and ever."
"What's the contest?" He was interested from the moment she said the words 'debt is gone'. Everything else simply passed him by.
"Agree to the terms first." She held out her hand to him. He watched she moved it from being beside her hip, and then peered back into her eyes.
"Why would I do that? You should tell me about the contest first." He crossed his arms.
"Because this is a once in a life-time offer. You either accept now, or you'll never have the chance to be debt-free again." Again, her smug-smile arose to meet him, knowing he would respond negatively to it. In spite of his better instinct, he took her hand and shook it with a firm grip, taking the only opportunity he could, apparently, ever get to be a complete and free man again.
"Good choice." She giggled a bit, releasing his hand before he had the chance to lessen his hold on hers. Leaning back on the heels of her palms, she posed again for him, making him feel a slight sting of regret. Smirking up at him, she began to explain, "It's a simple contest; first one to embarrass the other wins."
'Damn,' he cursed mentally, 'I need anger management.'
Author's Notes:
Hello! Another new story. This time, it's not a one-shot. This is a little side-story I want to do along with My Soul Duty. I hope I'll update back and forth between the two, to keep me in a steady rhythm. Hope others will be inspired and write more ZoroxNami stories too!
This is the prologue to what I hope will be a great ZoNa story.
To understand the layout of the Thousand Sunny, search for it on Wikipedia, then click on the external link. There will be pictures there.
Enjoy, and please R & R!
Blessed Be!