One Piece:

Giving And Receiving Ends

"ZORO!" Nami shouted in fear yet again, in the same tone and the same pitch she always yelled his name whenever it seemed he was a mere two seconds from death, all for her sake. She watched as his whole body flinched once in response to the knife in his side, but the tense posture merely lasted a moment. He was on the offence again and striking back hard. She found her line of sight sewn to his back, unable to break free, but her gut twisting and turning kept her grounded in more way than one. Her whole body shook with petrified awe, while his only moved with a sort of grace only years of training and life-threatening challenges could grant one such as him. As gory as it was to see the ex-pirate hunter cutting down man after man, she couldn't help but a feel a strong sense of pride and admiration for the man.

Here he was, at the end of his second decade in life, saving her butt once again from the dangers one would face as a female pirate. He had no business in this trivial street feud, yet he was the one looking over his foes' unconscious and/or badly bruised bodies. He was the one glaring down hard at the 'team captain' with triumph and warning. He was the one turning his back on the losing side, nodding to her and leading the way home. She was the navigator; he was the first-mate! There was no binding law for him to do this, but he did, none the less.

They walked back in silence, while Nami's eyes darted back and forth between the road ahead and the wounds received to his front. It amazed her how little he would fight, as in time-wise, and come out with so little amounts of injury, if there ever was any, yet they always were somehow more serious then you'd ever suspect Roronoa Zoro to receive. Sighing deeply to herself, as they reached the boat's docking space, she let him help her over the edge of the ship, thinking nothing of it really, and walked toward the Crow's Nest poll.

"Where are you going?" She heard him ask. Spinning around, she was surprised to see him over the tiny wall already. Not because he wasn't capable of being so swift, but because she never knew him to be so silent with his steps.

"To get Chopper. He should check that cut." She answered honestly, but with a dead voice. She couldn't quite understand why, but she was both mad and glad that he had come to save her. At the moment, however, only her angry showed in a slight degree.

"It's nothing. Forget it." As usual, Zoro didn't seem to care. The way he said his words made her think of an unpleasant noise, such as the cuts he applied to those men in town they had left uncared for.

"No Zoro, you need to get it looked at! I can see it bleeding, no matter how you try to hide it. I'm getting him now and that's that." She declared in her usual boastful voice, whenever she felt as though she had won, and felt a spring her step as she went to retrieve the special physician.

"Fine. Whatever." It was a whisper, but she heard him say it. Her spring failed her one step down, but picked up when she continued on her way. For some reason, his regular blasé attitude had gained a bit of an edge. It was starting to get to her and she didn't appreciate it in the slightest.

Upon reaching the ship's kitchen area, she opened the door calmly, as if to seem as though she didn't care either, and informed Chopper with a one-sentence summary of the man out on the deck, alone. Chopper raced off, Nami took his place. She dined with the other crew members merrily, even forgetting about 'Mr. Sour-Face' for a while. After a good ten minutes though, while speaking with Robin about a good book they had both had the pleasure of reading, both the males who had been absent from the crew gathering appeared. One glance over at them and Nami was looking at Robin in a millisecond. The animosity that had been haunting her in his words and actions now could be seen in his eyes as clear as day. What was worse about the miniscule eye-lock was it was now clear his rising hostility was completely for her.

Now she was confused. Ignoring Robin enough so her voice was but a buzzing noise in the back of her ears, Nami wondered with hostility as well, 'What is wrong with him?! He just saved me, didn't he? All I did was get Chopper so he didn't die! Excuse me for caring about the jerk! Hmph, fine! I can hate you as much as you hate me!'

"Nami?" The buzzing that once sounded like an untuned radio became clearer to her, enough to form a gentle feminine voice.

"Oh, yes?" Nami answered, trying to sound as if she hadn't spaced out.

"Don't you agree?" Robin gave a reassuring smile, as if she understood and all she needed was a one word answer.

"Oh mmhmm," -Nami tried to seem more confident then surprised- "I completely agree." 'Ehh, that might have been overkill.'

As Robin continued her little speech about the main coupling of the tale, Nami could feel Zoro move across the room to his usual corner seat. Again, his heels made no clink against the wooden planks. His fierce aura was all that was needed to detect his position. They could've been on separate poles of the planet and she still could pin-point his location, it was that strong. And as hard as she tried, she couldn't keep a straight face. Shivers traveled down her spine, which she tried to cover with 'a draft coming in'. She couldn't tell if his eyes were on her or not, but she could detect him inch-by-inch.

Once he took his seat, she let a bubbling breath escape the clutches of her throat. She allowed Robin to finish, nodded and gave a few words to concur, and stretched before taking her leave. Usopp called to her quickly before she left, reminding her of her post after dusk, and she scurried out the door. As the Galley's lock clicked, she looked up at the sky, closed her eyes, and really stretched her arms high. After she felt her muscles unclench, she dropped her shoulders forward and walked down into the Women's Quarters. Gathering up her blanket and pillow, she changed into her pyjamas and went to her night-time position.

During her trek, however, she looked up at the Crow's Nest, just as the wind blew over the ship. Pausing for three moments, she shook her head. "No way am I going up high tonight." She murmured to herself before walking up the side steps. Thinking it to be the perfect place to hide, in case anyone walked around the deck before bed, she snuck into her grove and took a seat between the trees. Looking up at the moon, she stared deep into the empty snow-white texture and tried to get herself lost. She wanted to just spend the night up on deck, while everyone else was underneath, and forget all about the saving jerk.

There was no way he was worthy of her anger, or to put a crack in her heart. There was no way he'd ever be worth her heart, period! He was so rude and uncaring and boring. Whenever he had free time, he trained so intensely, you weren't allowed to speak, or he slept. How was that a life? The only result of his training was his ability to save her, or to achieve his dream. How does that show for anything? Does he think that if he saves her, he can take her heart? Oh, he wishes! That's all he was doing, wasn't he? It was probably some lame joke Usopp and Luffy made him do, and she wouldn't put it pass Franky either. She was not some betting prize! How dare they!

…

But she was the one who brought heart into this, wasn't she? A Nami-bet was too uncharacteristic of her dear friends; she felt guilty now for accusing them. Zoro hadn't even said much to her, but what he did say seemed to hurt her lately. She couldn't tell why, but suddenly he was making her squirm. Normally, she made him act that way, but now she was under his thumb, under his words really. As much as she loved the crew, Nami could never love one of the men that way. With all she had been through in life, she needed one-hundred percent commitment. And not to doubt her friends, but none of them gave off that sort of impression on her.

But she was the one to bring heart into this matter. He never once said more then five words about his latest façade around her, so as if 'heart' or 'feelings' were mentioned. He wouldn't even have said something like that before his latest adjustment, so it wasn't much to be concerned with. That all seemed irrelevant to her as she thought back to the fight and moment on the deck. Why was he so angry with her recently? She hadn't done anything wrong. She had been nothing but kind to him. The beatings were friendly, and the debt was for comic relief when needed. It was never to bother him. It was never meant to put another void in whatever kind of a relationship they had. Since when was he so damn serious about anything, but his goal?!

Well, she was Nami. And as the Thousand Sunny's navigator, she would not tolerate such behaviour with no reason of trigger. It was rude, unjust and completely uncalled for. She deserved much better treatment, especially from him! He wasn't going to get the better of her, and how dare he even try! That was it! She was going to give him a piece of her mind tomorrow, right before breakfast. He was going to explain everything to her and admit he was wrong, one way or another! And it was all because Nami said so! Roronoa Zoro would just have to learn to deal.

Letting go of another deep breath, she smiled with more ease as she tried getting lost in the moon again. Oh, how she loved the moon, with its pure look, shining friends at its side. It reminded her almost of a family. It reminded her of her nakama, basically. She figured Luffy's smile matched the brightness and width of the moon, while the rest of the stars were the rest of them. Though at times, she became the crew's moon, she didn't mind just being a star. It made life easier whenever battles came into play. She didn't mind defending herself, either verbally or physically, but she would never choose to take one monsters such as Lucci or Enel.

"Nami?" Suddenly, she heard it. Flashbacks swirled in her mind, almost like a blender, refreshing the sound of the same way her name had been said about an hour before, this time held the variation of volume, for he now spoke in a whisper. Nami, of course, froze on the spot. Zoro did not give up.

"Nami, where are you?" he raised the enmity in his speech, not the volume, to track her down. It was more then crystal clear to Nami that he was still pissed, so why would she want to deal with him? She decided to ignore him. He'd go away sooner or later--

Or so she hoped. Before her brain could detect this so called 'fierce aura', he was behind her and pulling aside her trees. She whirled around instantly, almost as if she had been running by the marines, guilty of a strong crime and paranoid at every sound. She tried to look him in the eyes, but the moulting intensity made her feel powerless. She decided to take the non-direct approach and shuffle out of her grove first.

"What the hell are you doing? You're hurting my grove!" was how the conversation began, as she swatted at his hands, trying to signal him to move. He did, slowly, but it was clear the action was of his own accord; her slaps held no power over him now.

"Nami." He said her name this time, not questioning it, and seemed to have toned his bitterness down a level.

"What? Why do you keep calling for me? What is it?"

"I'm sick of this." He found that to be a self-explanatory reply. To the red-head, it added to the confusion.

"Sick of what? Your debt? Fine, I'll remo—"

"That's not it! You know what I mean!" She found it amazing how he could yell at her and yet whisper so as not to wake anyone else at the same time.

"No I don't! Otherwise, I wouldn't ask you 'Sick of what?'!" She retaliated. She thought she found herself in a winning position again, but he suddenly clenched his fists. He never clenched his fist like that before, never with her. It looks as if the bones of his hands were trying to rip free from the skin-casing they were in, then unleash tremendous, painful wrath upon her. She didn't know how she felt, so she merely went with 'overwhelmed'.

"I'm sick of being the only here! I'm sick of you using me, and I'm sick of…just your attitude!" It was obvious he struggled with the last part, but again, his words put a crack in this heart he apparently could never own.

"…I-I don't even know what you're talking about, Zoro! Just shut up and go to bed!" She was using her hurt to fuel her flames of anger and confusion. It was giving her enough courage to look him in the eye again. However, she found herself turning around to quick for him to even notice, trying to hide her soul's watery windows.

"No! Damn it, Nami! Stop denying it and just admit that you love me!" The ferocity of his voice made her feel like her whole body was set on fire. Or maybe the words? Either way, it made her tears go back behind her eyes and turn around to look into his.

"…What…did you…just say?!" She couldn't believe her ears.

"You know that I love you; don't lie! And it's obvious you love me too! So stop treating me like a slave and treat me like a man!" His demanding tone and towering posture made her feel dizzy. If it weren't for her curious mind, her heart would've told her to 'play fainted' already and drop onto his chest.

"I have no idea what you're even talking about! Get some sleep, you sound like a madman!"

"Just shut up and listen!" His bellow silenced her completely, even her breathing, "We beat around the bush, every day, every time we see each other, every single second! You know I love you because I'm always there for you! I protect you! I save your life all the time! And I know you love me too because why else would you bound me to you? But that's just it: that's all you do! You don't show me that you care about me that way at all and I'm sick of this being a one-sided love! Tell me right now how you feel, or I'm DONE!"

"…Done?" She didn't even know how to respond to his stirring rant, but the finishing line really disturbed her. What did he mean when he said 'or I'm done'? Done what? It worried her.

"I'm done playing around. I'm not going to play around with you anymore. So tell me right now; tell me again that I'm just being crazy and I'll go to bed and we'll be done with this stupid thing."

"…It's stupid to you now?" She was only responding now to what was offending her, and there seemed to be another hitter every time he opened his mouth.

"Of course it is! How many girls do you see me act this way for? None! You're the only girl who gets me like this, so if this is how it's going to be, I don't want it and I want it finished!"

Fear struck her heart now; she didn't want Zoro to leave her. They weren't even together, true, but that didn't mean she wanted him to stop being around her. She did care for Zoro, if nothing else. He did have a special place in her heart, but so did the others. The word 'friend' used to be the most harmful thing to her and now randomly love comes into the mix? She had never been in this situation before! And she'd bet all her bellis that neither had he, so why was he acting like this? Why was he forcing her to say such things? It only made her want to leap back into her grove and get away from him.

"Today," his voice pulled her back to the physical version of the situation, "When I saved you, I didn't because it was instinct. I knew I didn't have to, but I did. You didn't even thank me! You ran off to get Chopper, that's it! I didn't need a bandage, I wanted recognition! You have me going out of my way now just to hear you say it!"

"…Thank you?"

"No! I want to hear you tell me what we both know! Just…at least say something so this conversation can end!"

If he wanted her to admit she loved him, he wasn't acting very lovingly. But she saw his point; Zoro was very caring toward her. He did save her continuously, he did protect her. Even when he believed she killed Usopp in Arlong Park and discarded all his trust for her, he still fought for her; he even fought Arlong! Zoro was nothing but sweet and wonderful to her, in his own special way. And what had she shown him? A debt? A weak little girl who needs a protector? It was impossible for him to feel this way; she was only beginning to see the light now, with the impact of his actions slapping her across the face. How could he see any of this before she could?

"You're lying." She whispered.

"What?" He said with such a strong taste of venom, she wondered if she could just back down and lie too.

"You're lying. You don't love me. I was right; someone put you up to this. Franky? Usopp? Luffy might just laughed along—"

"You've got to be kidding me," He growled before he used his skilful hands to make her look at him, "Do I look like the kind of man who even wants to mention how I feel, let alone others? I am not lying! Just admit you feel the same already!"

"How can I when all you're doing is yelling at me?!" She went on the offence and started to fight back.

"I have to yell because you don't seem to realize it when I'm calm!"

"You're not acting very 'loving'-like!"

"I've already told you how I feel! I think I've been more then loving!"

"No you haven't because all you've been doing is freaking me out!"

They were both silent, neither expression changing, nor eye sight shifting. It took several minutes as the two searched each other's eyes, trying to dig deep so there would be no need for words. The silence was noticeably filled by the motion of the water, which only came to their attention when concentration wavered.

"…Fine," Nami finally answered, "I'm sorry Zoro…that I've treated you like that. I just…I never thought this conversation would ever come up between us. I figur—"

"Fine," he said as he had early on the deck. Again she expected the same complete statement to be said, "But just say it."

She looked up into his eyes and smiled like her usual self, her lips turned upward into a coy smirk and said, "I love you too, Zoro-baby." And with the declarations completed, she jumped into his arms and kissed him with all she could gather. Surprisingly, he staggered back a step, completely unprepared, and blushed like a little boy. Eventually, he dropped the childish antics and wrapped his arms around her body with slight difficulty, then returned the kiss with the passion he had had pent up for as long as he could remember.

The kiss alone was the highlight of that evening.

Such warmth, devotion and ecstasy in that display of affection, formed and moulded the perfect love of Roronoa Zoro and Nami.

Author's Notes:

Do NOT ask! This one was completely random, and I just felt the urge to write it. I was thinking about it though: Zoro shows his love for Nami a LOT more then she does for him, so I wrote about it. Hope it was at least somewhat enjoyable. I might do a sequel if there's enough reviews…POSITIVE reviews, of course :P

Check out My Soul Duty! Chapter 8 now up!

Blessed be!

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