Another drabble from me. It can be Zoro/Nami....if you squint, turn upside down on your head and have been drinking since noon. All in all, I think this falls under 'nakamaship'.

An idea of Zoro's earrings.

Please leave feedback so I can keep writing, eh?

"No."

Normally Nami didn't throw a fit over just simple words used by themselves. After all, one word by itself usually held little power over her. 'Hey', 'You', 'Yes', 'No'- those didn't really hold any sway over her. She did what she wanted when she wanted, damn the consequences and what others thought about her. Even the occasionally 'Thief!' didn't bother her.

Yet Zoro's repeated answer was driving her – for lack of a better term- bananas.

"Zoro!" she nearly screeched, waving a slip of paper at him (her calculations). "You owe over 500,000 beli! You need to pay it off before I can lend you more!"

"No. I'm takin' my share and goin' into town."

"That's just it Zoro- you don't HAVE a share!" Nami explained, exasperated. Honestly, you'd think a swordsman who wanted to be the best in the world would understand the simple mechanics of loans and interest. Him and Luffy and the rest of the crew would do the fighting while she stole the money and kept it safe for them. Then, for a small fee of course, she would lend them the money for the next time they were in port or wished to buy something. Then she would automatically cut out what they owed her in the next pile of gold they came across, and then start the lovely cycle over again.

"Onna, I don't care what you say, I'm going."

And with that, he grabbed a small bag of beli, and left.

Normally Nami would fly into a rage over someone taking her precious money. She earned it, she worked for it, and damn anyone would try to take what was rightfully hers.

Yet, just as she was about to let out a loud indignant yell, a shimmer of gold dangling from Zoro's ear caught her attention.

"Hey, Zoro."

"WHAT?!"

"I'll let you take your share if you pay off your debt now."

The swordsman snorted as he turned back towards her, a feral grin on his face. "Oi, onna, you know I can't do that."

He stopped when he noticed the familiar, greedy look of beli signs in her eyes.

"Whatever you're planning I'm not doing it," he stated quickly, backing up towards the wall as she advanced on him with a smile that was only too happy.

"I am not going hunting after other bounties, I'm not going to fight for money, and I'm sure as hell not going to 'offer the services of my favorite sword' to the women here just so I can pay off your stupid debt!"

He refused to flinch as the red-head lifted a hand- and her fingers drifted over his earrings.

"99.999 percent pure gold, am I right?" Nami grinned, not loosing her smirk even as Zoro jerked his head away.

"I'm not-"

"They would pay off your debt completely, and keep you out of debt for the next five years," Nami interrupted smoothly.

"I'm not giving you my earrings just to pay off a stupid debt that I shouldn't have to begin with," the green-haired man snapped. He shoved her away easily, and headed out the door. "And I'm takin' my share."

He slammed the door, leaving a miffed Nami behind.

"Hmph. Why would he not just give them to me? I mean, really," she huffed, and went over her calculations again, this time adding in the worth of Zoro's earrings.

Ah. She had lied to him- he'd be able to pay off his debt AND keep it off for ten years, not five. Whoops.

She kept bugging the swordsman for three days after about his earrings. When she wasn't navigating, she was hissing like a red-haired long legged goose at the green haired man.

"Seriously, 'cmon! Pay me off! You know you want to!"

Nami had even gone to Usopp for help. Why him? Because his eyes didn't turn into hearts at the sight of her, Chopper would probably tell her to let Zoro do as he wished, Robin had merely shook her head before diving back into a book, and Luffy...well, Luffy was Luffy.

"Why don't you ask him why they're so special to him?"

Nami gaped at the long nosed liar.

"I don't need to know why they're special! They're 99.999 percent pure gold!"

Usopp snorted. "You honestly think Zoro is into money as much as you? If he was, neither you or him would still be alive on this ship. He'd murder you, and then Sanji would wreck his terrible vengeance on him. Of course, the great Captain Usopp would try to come to your rescue, but even I can't guarantee that I could stop the Demon Zoro-"

She had stopped listening to him after that.

Yet when they stopped at the next port, she managed to pull Zoro aside and do what Usopp had suggested.

"Why...why won't you give them to me?" she grumbled, looking like a young child that had been told that, no, in fact, they could not jump into the cotton candy machine and roll around in it and eat whatever was stuck to them.

"They're not yours to have."

"ZORO!" Nami yelled. "WE'RE NAKAMA! TELL ME! AT LEAST FOR MY SANITY!!!"

"Fine fine, not so loud, onna."

Nami shut up immediately. While she knew her chances of getting her hands on them was about as good as Luffy turning into a vegan, she could at least manage to not drive herself nuts if she at least knew WHY they were so important to him.

Zoro settled down against the wall behind the galley. He glared stoically up at the navigator, then growled something under his breath.

"What was that?" Nami asked sharply.

"I said no need to look like a fuckin' Marine, relax."

Nami huffed, and sat down cross-legged, eyes looking Zoro intently in the face. Finally, she would know why when he had the chance to pay her off for YEARS, why he turned her down. She would finally know why he had three earrings, in one ear. And why they were the only adornment that he wore.

Zoro sighed, ran a hand through his hair, then fiddled with his earrings.

"My burial," he said, holding up the first one. "Enshrinement for my swords," the second one was held up. "And to pay the poor fool who has to go to all that work." The last one was held and then dropped like the others.

"...you're joking, right?"

Zoro's calm face crumbled into a gruff sneer. "Why do you think that?"

Nami didn't have an answer. She knew that some sailors wore earrings to pay for their burial, like Zoro, but there was something wrong with his answer.

"You plan on dying someday?" she said skeptically.

The swordsman blinked at her, then let out a bark of a laugh. "Doesn't everyone eventually?"

"But," the navigator insisted, not thinking of the words coming out of her mouth. "You're Zoro! You don't die! You...you keep coming, and people die around you or from you. You can still stand after loosing over half of your blood! You fought with Mihawk's wound fresh on your torso! You swam in below-freezing water for training, damn it! You're the DEMON RORONOA ZORO!!! How the hell can you think that you'll just happen to turn human long enough to kick the bucket?!"

Zoro, who had been laughing throughout her whole rant, was still chuckling. "C'mon Nami, you should know everyone, even Demons or monsters, eventually die. I'm no different."

"You thought about it before you even met Luffy," Nami pointed out, shrewdly she thought.

"Uh huh. Got 'em before I left my teacher's dojo. Glad I did. They must have moved the whole damn complex when I left because it wasn't there when I went back to visit."

"You mean you got lost," Nami deadpanned.

"I didn't get lost. They left."

"Whatever," Nami sighed, knowing it was a lost battle to argue with the swordsman about his horrible sense of direction. For god's sake, the man had thought 'go north' had meant 'go up'. "So you're not going to give them up huh?"

"Nope," Zoro said, yawning a little and stretching out until he was laying on the deck, almost ready for his nap.

"What makes you think I won't steal them if you die and I'm around?" Nami murmured, curious to see his reaction.

"You won't," he said simply.

"How do you know?"

His eyes found hers, and though they were at half-mast, they still held his simple power; the determination, and the careless 'fuck you' attitude.

"Because even you wouldn't take away my right to a decent burial, and having my swords taken care of."

"I noticed you didn't say anything about the one to pay the person who has to do all that," Nami smirked.

"Yeeeeeeeah," Zoro yawned, closing his eyes. "For all I know, you might be the one to do it. But you don't have to worry about that until Luffy is Pirate King and I become the greatest swordsman in the world. Now go bug someone else, I need my nap."

"Aye, Zoro," Nami muttered, standing and leaving him to his sleep. She paused, and turned to look back at him as he dozed off.

"I hope it's longer than that before I need to worry about it," she murmured, disappearing into her orange grove.

Zoro didn't hear her, and even if he had, he wouldn't have cared. He had his dream to achieve, and until that was done, his earrings were staying put.