Okay, this is the first story that I've written for the One Piece universe, and I'm really nervous about it. The characters in this series are possibly the best developed in all of manga, so writing them kind of scares me. So, I'd really, really like any advice and/or criticism on how I do it.

Anyways, this story takes place sometime after Thriller Bark, but only because I wanted to use a mention of Brook in it. Also, standard disclaimers apply. I don't own One Piece or any of its characters. There is yaoi in this story as well, so if that bothers you, then feel free to hit the back button on your screen. I promise, I won't be offended.

Innocence, or Lack Thereof

Zoro let out a deep growl. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. He was never in the mood to deal with the redheaded sea witch, but after walking with her for the whole day and listening to her complain the entire hike, he was about ready to scream. Well, not scream exactly. He had too much pride as a man for that. But he'd still do something to show how frustrating this whole thing was.

Nami, for her part, looked about ready to strangle her companion. He absolutely refused to take breaks, and always started walking off in the most random directions every five minutes. Nami let out a groan as she trudged through the thicket of the woods behind the swordsman. This was ridiculous. She wasn't some masochistic muscle head like Zoro. She was a young, delicate maiden. She needed to rest.

"Come on, Zoro," she whined. "Can't we stop for a quick break?"

"No," Zoro threw back over his shoulder, not slowing his pace. "If we keep taking breaks, we'll never get there."

"We haven't even taken one!"

Zoro just shrugged. "Not my fault that you're out of shape."

THUD! "Be thankful I didn't charge the Clima-tact up first," Nami said in monotone as she stepped over Zoro's body. The swordsman rubbed the large lump on the back of his head as he rose from the ground. She was so lucky that he owed her money, or he'd really let her have it.

He started walking again, now behind the girl. Nami was studying the map in her hands as she walked. Zoro was actually somewhat impressed that Nami could walk like that without tripping over any of the dozens of roots sticking up from the ground. Hell, he was impressed she could actually understand the map. Damn thing was just gibberish to him, but she read it like it was a children's book. Not that he'd actually tell her any of this, mind you.

After ten more minutes of antagonistic silence, spare the times when Nami had to keep Zoro from wandering off in the wrong direction, the swordsman decided to say something. Of course, since he was with Nami, it came out as a complaint. "I don't see why we had to come all the way out here for some stupid treasure. You sure you didn't get a false map again?"

"Of course I didn't," Nami snapped back. "And I didn't ask you to come with anyway!" That was true.

"Tch. Like I had a choice." Also true.

Actually, this whole thing was really Luffy's fault. When Nami told him that she had bought a map showing that there was buried treasure on the small, nondescript island they had landed on, the captain had sent her and Zoro off to find it. This, of course, did not go over well at all, and both first mate and navigator immediately demanded that they be told why they had to go off with each other.

"Zoro's not afraid of anything, but he's always gets lost. Nami never gets lost, but she gets scared easy. It's the perfect match!"

Despite the fact that Luffy actually had a point for once, both Zoro and Nami protested vehemently against the idea. Sanji also joined in, declaring that the marimo was unfit to protect his precious Nami-swan. Pretty soon, the protests began to devolve into the usual Zoro-and-Sanji-fight-until-Nami-hits-them scenario. Luffy eventually got annoyed with the whole thing and pulled rank by declaring it Captain's Orders, and they couldn't argue with that.

And so, there they were, in the middle of the dense woods, looking for the treasure that Nami swore existed. Quite frankly, Zoro wondered not only how Nami could follow the map, but also how anyone could make one in the first place. Every tree looked exactly the same to him.

The repetitive scenery really didn't help his mood. Aside from all the trees, there hadn't been anything in the forest so far. At All. Not even any form of wild animal or insect for him to fight, meaning that his coming with Nami was completely pointless. This meant that she would almost assuredly make him do all the digging and carry whatever they found back while she sat there moaning and whining. Joy.

"Hey! Wait up, Zoro!"

Zoro turned around to see that he had, in fact, past the navigator some time ago. Now, she was struggling to catch up to him. Zoro decided to be patient for once (he didn't know where he was going anyways) and waited for her. He did, however, roll his eyes as he watched Nami step daintily over the forest floor, carefully watching where she stepped. "We'd be going a lot faster if you weren't so afraid of getting dirty, you know."

Nami glared at him. "These are new shoes, asshole! And you're pretty careless with your appearance for a gay guy."

Usually, a little stab at Zoro's masculinity like that was enough to shut him up. Usually. "Hey, at least I had the guts to admit it to the guy that I like."

Nami immediately froze. "I don't know what you're talking about." Her voice was suddenly very low, and she cast him a very dirty look. One that said 'I just dare you to bring that up again.'

Daring Roronoa Zoro to do anything was never a good idea. "Cut the crap, Nami. I've seen you giving him those damn looks of yours all the time. And do you really think that no one notices when you drag him into town just to see what clothes he likes on you?"

"B-but that's just…I-I mean it's not like…damn it, I don't…" Nami continued to flounder with her words. Zoro couldn't help but let the grin slowly creep onto his face. It was very, very rare that anyone ever won an argument against Nami, but when someone did, it was priceless. Eventually, Nami gave up on stammering out excuses. "…Is it really that obvious."

"Brook knows."

"…Crap." Nami looked completely crestfallen. She sat down on the ground, not caring about the dirt now that she had been exposed. She pulled her legs into her chest and hid her face behind her knees. You could practically see the lines of depression around her head.

Zoro indulged in the visual of Nami in the fetal position a little longer before he decided to throw her a bone. "So why exactly haven't you told him yet?"

Nami stayed silent for a minute before she answered through her shins. "I can't. He's too…innocent for me."

Zoro arched an eyebrow. "Innocent? Him?"

Nami growled. "Yeah, innocent. You got a problem with that?"

"Not really, but I can think of at least a dozen people he's beaten up that might. If he's innocent, then Chopper's an elephant."

Nami sighed. She kind of guessed that Zoro wouldn't get it. "You don't understand. It's just that he's so sweet and caring and innocent and I'm…well…not."

Ah, so that was the problem. Nami looked as if she was done talking, but Zoro wasn't really ready to start yet, so he decided to prompt her to continue. "And how exactly are you not?"

Once again, Nami didn't move, and took her time before answering. "When I was working under Arlong, I did a lot of things that I'm not proud of. Things that you guys still don't know about. It was just…just so hard to even breathe back then. I resorted to pretty much anything and everything. With everything that I've done, I just don't deserve someone like him."

Zoro sighed and ran his hand through his hair. As much as it was a pain to do so, he knew that he had to cheer the girl up a bit. So, after getting his thoughts together, he crouched down in front of Nami and began to speak. "Look, you might not be the most generous person in the world, but you're not evil either. You're the one that held Vivi when she saw Igaram's ship blow up. You're the one who talked to Chopper when we left Drum Island so that he wouldn't feel too homesick. And when you were sick, you practically demanded that we go on to Alabasta instead of find you a doctor."

"But still…"

"But nothing. We're pirates, Nami. None of us are innocent. Franky ran Water 7's underground for years, and Robin was an assassin most of her life. Hell, I'm probably one of the worst of us. I hunted down and killed my bounties, and unlike you I didn't have anyone that I had to worry about upsetting. Trust me, compared to most of us, you're one of the better ones."

Nami stayed quiet, but she did look a little better. Zoro decided to finish up. "Neither of us are saints, Nami, but that doesn't mean we're demons, either. And it certainly doesn't mean that we don't deserve to be happy."

"…Yeah, you're right." Nami smiled and got back up. She seemed to back to her usual self. She brushed herself off and began walking again. "Come on, we better hurry if we want to get back in time for dinner."

"Like it matters. Pin brow won't serve anything until you're there."

"True. Oh, and Zoro?"

"Hm?"

Nami didn't face him and kept moving, but her voice became much softer. "Thank you. For the pep talk and all." Zoro just shrugged and grunted in response. Not like it was that big a deal or anything.

"You tell anyone I said that, and I'm quadrupling your debt!"

"Tch. Like I'd want to."

Normally, Zoro went up to the crow's nest for his after dinner nap. Truthfully, it was more of an observation deck than a crow's nest. The entire space was completely enclosed, surrounded with windows and line with plush couches. Franky had really pulled out all the stops when he built the Thousand Sunny. Tonight, however, the air was very warm, so Zoro opted to nap on the deck and enjoy the sea breeze. He plopped himself against the railing near the figurehead. After weaving his hands behind his head so that he wouldn't bump it against the rocking boat, he closed his eyes and let himself drift off.

The treasure hunt had gone well. Turned out the map actually wasn't a fake after all, and there really was a buried treasure. As he had expected, Nami had made him do all the digging, while she stood there and watched. To her credit, though, she did carry as much of the loot as she could back on her own. Somehow, having treasure seemed to energize her, and he had to hurry in order to keep up with the beli-eyed girl. Zoro had never bothered to find out how much the whole thing was actually worth, since he wasn't going to see a single beli of it anyways, but Nami had told him that his share had paid off about half of his debt to her, so he couldn't complain. Still, even though he knew it was better the way it had gone, he still wished that there had been something for him to fight. The whole day had just been so boring. Still, it was over now, and all that was left was to sleep.

He was just going off to dreamland when he felt something settle in his lap. Normally, he would have one of his swords pointed at the throat of the fool who dared to invade his space, but he recognized the body on him immediately. Zoro lazily opened eye and looked at his lover. "I was trying to sleep, you know," he said, feigning annoyance.

"So?"

He felt warm arms wrap around his torso. Zoro held a shiver as the smaller body rubbed against his own form. As much as enjoyed the feeling, though, he wasn't going to give in that easily. So instead of moaning, he forced a groan. "Shouldn't you be trying to get more meat out of Sanji right about now?"

"Tried that," Luffy answered. "He said that if I didn't stay out of the galley, then he'd give me nothing but vegetables for a week."

"Go play with Usopp and Chopper, then. They're probably up to something."

"Zoorrroooooooooo," Luffy whined, "stop playing hard to get!"

Zoro chuckled. "All right, all right. Turn around." Luffy obeyed, and Zoro slinked an arm across Luffy's stomach, so that the captain's back was pressed against Zoro's chest. Zoro smiled contently. He liked holding Luffy like this, and since he wasn't squirming, he assumed that Luffy liked it too. Zoro felt somewhat proud of the fact that he was one of the handful of people that could get the hyperactive rubber man to sit still.

Luffy didn't stay that way long, though. Within a minute, he turned his head looked up at his first mate. "So, how'd it go with Nami?"

Zoro sighed, if only for the sake of it. "Just as you thought it would, captain. She did break down a bit, but I think that she'll ask him soon. How'd you know what was wrong with her, anyways?"

"Well, Usopp was telling Chopper how he beat the fish guy with the weird lips, and Nami tensed up when she was listening, especially when Usopp described his injuries."

Zoro nodded. That sounded like something that only Luffy would catch on to. "She actually called him innocent. Can you believe that?"

Luffy seemed to think about it. "Innocent, huh? I guess I can see that?"

"…You're kidding right?"

"Well, it's not really innocence. It's chivery."

Zoro had to run a few words in his head before he figured out what Luffy was trying to say. "You mean chivalry?"

"Yeah, that. Sanji is always really nice to girls. Even if they're bad and beat him up, he still tries to protect them."

Zoro just nodded. He guessed that a girl could see that as innocent. He looked over at the center of the ship, where the love cook himself was serving a slice of homemade cake delicately before a sitting Nami. If his eyes weren't full of pink hearts, he might have seen the blush spread across Nami's face as she thanked him. He just smirked. Hopefully, she'd stop acting like some schoolgirl and actually ask him to be hers.

"Hey, Zoro?" The swordsman looked down at the man in his lover. Luffy had turned over to face Zoro, and was looking up at him like a little kid. "Do you think that I have chivalry?"

Zoro smirked. "Do you beat up girls?"

"Oh. Well, am I innocent?"

Zoro's smirk grew even wider. "No."

"Aawww." Luffy looked to the side, his face in full pout. Zoro chuckled and pulled Luffy's soft face back towards his own. He engaged his captain in a kiss. It stayed soft at first, but Zoro let it grow in intensity. Soon, Zoro began to probe Luffy's mouth with his tongue. Luffy returned the favor. Soon, the captain's hands were pressing into the small of Zoro's back, and Luffy pulled his body even closer into the swordsman's.

When they both finally pulled away for air, Zoro had a wolfish grin splayed across his face. "Trust me, Luffy," he said. "Innocence is overrated."

And that's it. Once again, all reviews are appreciated, especially ones concerning having characters in character. In my opinion, One Piece is one of the most intimidating series to write for. Even with only half of the Straw Hats, there are enough running gags to form a marathon. So once again, please review and tell me how I did. Thank you.