Not Just A Woman

One Piece is written by Eiichiro Oda-sensei and I am not worthy. I am simply playing in his sandbox for a limited time and do not make any claim upon his characters, world, or anything he has created. This is a story by a fan, made for other fans' enjoyment.

Author's note: Anyone remember that episode in Skypiea when Zoro catches Robin after she's struck by lightning? (What am I saying, every Zoro x Robin shipper in the world remembers that moment!) Anyway, Zoro says: "She's only a woman." I think he comes to the conclusion later that Robin is anything but "just a woman" as the story continues, hence the title of the fic.

Also, I'm writing this because I want a nice, slow buildup of a romance between Robin and Zoro. One that would actually work with canon, that is. So I'm weaving this story in and around the anime episodes. FYI. I'll give you either location titles or enough hints for you to figure out where they must be in the story as you read. Oh, and I have no beta reader for this story, so any grammar mistakes rest solely on my head. I tried to catch them all, but I never see my own mistakes, soooo…yeah. Sorry in advance.

Okay, I'll stop rambling, you can go read now.

Chapter One

I settled into my favorite spot on the deck with a yawn, shifting my shoulders until I found just the right angle. Someone (Usopp?) had cut the grass while I was up in the nest training because the grass was more prickly than it had been and it smelled like freshly cut watermelon. I liked the scent and a smile unconsciously tugged at my mouth as I closed my eyes. Mm, with the sun pleasantly warming my skin and the familiarity of the slight rocking of Sunny lulling me to sleep, it was just perfect for a na—

I shot to my feet in the next second, swords temporarily abandoned on the grass. That soft, startled cry hadn't been loud, but instinct had me moving before I could really analyze it. I had covered a full stride toward the rear of the ship before I even realized what the danger was.

Robin was falling.

Her back was toward the ground, arms and legs upwards as gravity sucked her quickly toward the deck. She had her arms crossing, as if to activate her Devil's Fruit ability, but I knew she wouldn't get it done in time.

I put more strength into my legs, propelling me forward faster, and stretched out my arms to their absolute limit. Please—make—it—in—time!

In the next second my hands folded around her body, arms cradling her weight. Stretched out like I was, it felt beyond awkward to catch her like this and I instinctively brought her closer to my chest in a protective manner, my torso folding over hers. The momentum and angle sent me to my knees and I slid on the grass, feeling her gasp at the impact against my chest.

For a second, I just knelt there, breathing. My heart thudded loud in my ears, almost as hard as it did when I geared up to fight a very tough opponent. That…that had been beyond scary. To see her heading head first toward the ground like that. She didn't move or say anything and I felt another flash of fear race up my spine. I had caught her right, hadn't I? She wasn't somehow injured? I lifted my head a little, giving her space to breathe, and demanded, "You okay?"

She looked up at me with wide eyes, her hand clutched in my shirt, as if she couldn't believe what had just happened. Her mouth moved once, soundlessly, then she managed, "I-I'm fine. Thank you, Zoro-san."

"Oi, Marimo! You caught her properly, right?" The idiot love-cook demanded from the railing above. "She isn't injured, is she?!"

I ignored him—I usually do—and instead rose, putting us both back on our feet. "What happened?" I asked her.

"Just an accident," she assured me with that calm smile she usually wore. I was sure it was a mask to cover up her speeding heartbeat. "I was passing by the kitchen just as Sanji-san came out with a large tray."

So, in other words, the idiot had knocked her over the railing. I turned to give him a glare. "You idiot, she could have been seriously hurt because of your carelessness!"

For a split second he looked honestly remorseful about that. His sense of chivalry, or whatever it was, was probably nagging at him about now. But it didn't last more than a moment before he launched himself over the railing, landing neatly in front of Robin, and started swooning at her feet and vowing to never allow her to face such danger again.

I rolled my eyes, praying for patience. Robin, used to his antics, smiled at him and assured him that everything was fine. That just encouraged him, and he started up all over again, as he seemed to think that he should have been the one to catch her. That would have been a neat trick, actually – to cause her to fall and then catch her on the ground at the same time.

Chopper came out of his room to ask what the commotion was about, which set love-cook off all over again. His prattling was getting on my nerves, it normally does, but I had this molten hot ball of anger in my chest that wasn't going away either.

I eyed him thoughtfully. He wasn't a Devil's Fruit user, so if I pitch him overboard, he likely won't drown, right? Maybe a dip in the ocean would cool his head a bit.

If nothing else, it would make me feel better.

Decided, I picked him up by the waist and hefted him over my head.

"O-oi!" he protested, wriggling fruitlessly. "Marimo, what the hell—"

"Heave-ho." With a (I admit it) evil smile, I tossed him overboard.

He made a very satisfying splash when he hit the water.

From different areas of the ship, people started popping out to see what was going on. Love-cook (un)fortunately rose quickly back to the surface and his head broke above the water with no trouble, blond hair slicked back and revealing those weird eyebrows of his. His face was flushed redder than a lobster and he shook an angry fist at me. "What the hell, Marimo!"

"Penance," I drawled down at him, not at all bothered that he was probably planning out my funeral arrangements. "I don't care what your excuse is, you don't put one of the girls in danger."

That made a dent with him when nothing else would have and he actually looked shame faced. Idiot. When I thought about how hurt Robin could have been just because of his carelessness, it made me wish I'd thrown him farther. With ankle weights on his legs.

"Wait, Zoro-san," Robin protested, a hand hovering near my arm that never quite touched me. "It was an honest accident! Sanji-san would never intentionally harm me, we all know that."

"If it wasn't an accident, I would have done a lot worse to him," I informed her bluntly. Her eyes flew wide. It was an odd feeling to have shocked this normally unshockable woman twice in five minutes.

"B-but—" she spluttered.

It was even weirder to see her lost for words. I don't think that's ever happened before. Me, I wasn't much for talking unless something needed to be said. But I could tell from the way that Nami looked at me, and Franky, that they didn't get it either. Well, Franky I could sort of understand since he'd only been with us a few weeks, and obviously Robin wouldn't get it because I'd never treated her like a real part of the crew until we went to get her from Enies Lobby. Before that, I had protected her because Luffy told me too and that was it.

Alright, fine, I'd make myself clear. I let out a sigh and turned so I could face all three of them. "Nami, Robin, I know very well that you're strong fighters and you can take care of yourselves." Mostly. Unless the opponent was monstrously strong. "But I'm not blind either. Neither of you have the same physical strength or durability that us guys do. You're easier to hurt. It's as simple as that. It's our job—" I included every man on this ship in that 'our' even Chopper "—to make sure you're not hurt."

Love-cook had managed to climb back on board at this point, dripping sea water all over the place and smelling like kelp. He looked like a drowned rat with his clothes sticking to him like that. I aimed my last words at him. "So it's very unforgivable for one of us to have been the ones to put you in danger."

Sanji really couldn't meet my eyes. Guilt fully kicked in, eh?

Luffy, with an unusually serious look on his face, came up to stand between me and Sanji. "It was a good catch, Zoro," he complimented me.

I gave a grunt of acknowledgement.

"But I think you're a little hard on Sanji." Luffy lit up in a sudden smile. "So no more tossing him, okay? Franky!"

"Yo!"

"I bet you can fix this," Luffy suggested. "Make something so this can't happen again."

"Super leave it to me!" Franky agreed, already heading for his tools.

With all of this settled, more or less, I headed back for my napping spot. Hopefully the chaos of the day had already happened and I could have an uninterrupted snooze.

Alas, it was not to be. Nami followed on my heels, her voice pitched low so that it wouldn't carry. "Since when do the guys protect us from all danger?"

"I didn't say that," I responded in annoyance. Couldn't she leave anything alone?

"Zoro, since joining up with Luffy, I've been in danger all the time!"

"Not my fault," I retorted. It honestly wasn't, either. It was always Luffy's fault. "I've never intentionally left you in a situation that you couldn't somehow handle." I have, on occasion, gotten into situations that were over my head and left me unable to help anyone else, but hopefully I'd get strong enough in the near future to where that wouldn't happen anymore.

She opened her mouth, paused as she thought about it, then frowned. I took advantage of this lull in the interrogation to settle comfortably back on the grass.

Nami sank onto her heels next to me, apparently unable to let this go. "So you see Robin properly as a woman now?"

I blinked at this sudden switch in topics. "What?"

"Before, you looked at her like she was the devil incarnate. You only put up with her because Luffy told you to. So when did that change to 'you're a girl, I need to protect you', hmmm?"

I gave her a you must be kidding look. It didn't faze her. "Nami. I noticed from the beginning she was a woman. You'd have to be blind not to."

"That's not what I'm asking. When did you decide you needed to protect her?"

"Oh, I don't know, the minute we discovered she was going to die for us?" I shot back sarcastically. Really, was that so hard to figure out?

"She'd a hardcore assassin and Devil's Fruit user, but you still feel the need to protect her?" Nami questioned with a strange intensity. What was with that note of excitement in her voice?

I rolled my eyes to the sky, annoyed by this line of questioning and not seeing a good reason for it. Seriously, why did it matter? "If I answer you, will you go away?"

"Yes," she answered promptly.

I didn't really buy that—this woman could out bargain hardened criminals—but tried playing the game anyway. "Nami, like I said, I'm not blind. Devil's Fruit ability aside, Robin's got all the strengths and weaknesses of every other woman. It's also pretty obvious that despite the fact she's about my height, she's not very big. In fact, I'd say you two were close in size."

Nami blinked. "We are, actually."

I thought as much. After all, I've carried both of them at different times so it was an easy thing to notice. "Robin's weak in some ways. She's too prone to get into the thick of trouble and not ask for help when she needs to. I understand why—after twenty years of not having help to rely on, it's a hard habit to break—but that's why I keep a closer eye on her than anyone else. All of you, you'll let me know upfront if something is too much for you to handle. Her? She won't say a word."

Nami's eyebrows arched in an impressed manner. "I didn't realize you were so observant with people."

I jerked a thumb at Luffy. "With a captain like that, the first mate has to be."

She grimaced. "Point. Still, I would have thought that out of the two of us, you would have found Robin to be the better fighter and not worried about her at all."

Actually, out of the two of you, you're scarier. I carefully clamped my mouth shut before I accidentally said that out loud.

"Hmmm." She pushed off on her knees and stood back up. "Well, that explains a few things."

"Can I sleep now?" I asked plaintively. I'd had the dawn watch this morning and was short on sleep at the moment.

"Yes, yes," she flapped a hand at me in dismissal as she turned away.

(End Chapter One)