Summer Doodles

A One Piece One-Shot

The air in the small room was stale, the resident heat alone driving countless drops of sweat onto his body.

32.005, 32.006, 32.007, 32.009...

Letting out an annoyed growl, he cursed under his breath and exasperatedly dropped his weights on the wooden floor. For what seemed the millionth time just this morning, he had skipped while counting his own movements. He grudgingly had to admit that his concentration had slowly but surely gone further down the drain.

Zoro wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his right hand and took a deep breath. Yet despite the large amount of air entering his system, only the slightest bit of oxygen made its way to his lungs, leaving the hint of a suffocating feeling in his chest.

Frowning, he looked through the windows of the small room, shielding his eyes from the blinding sun. Apparently, they were approaching a summer island, for the weather had steadied; for the past three days, the sun had been burning down on the Sunny Go and its crew unforgivingly, raising the temperature to such levels that all physical - and many a times even mental - activity seemed to exhaust completely.

Certainly, this was no reason for the stubborn swordsman to neglect his training; on the road to greatness, as he liked to think, many obstacles needed to be overcome, and each small feat would thus bring him closer to his ultimate goal. Therefore, no matter how much a small portion of his mind longed to relieve his burning muscles with a cold bath or even just a quick nap in the shadows of the main mast, Zoro decided to not give in to such ideas.

Determinedly, he grabbed the handles of his ridiculously large training weight and, placing it firmly between his jaws, opened the floor hatch of the crow's nest and quickly made his way down the mast.

Maybe the open deck would make a slightly more agreeable training location than the stuffed little room.

***

Nami sighed in defeat as she scowled at the stained piece of paper on the desk in front of her. This was already the third time over the course of just one morning that she had to discard a newly begun map because, due to a slip in her concentration, she had made a mistake that basically made it unusable. Yet instead of crumbling the paper instantly and having it join its companions in the dustbin, she glared at it with crossed arms, as if her stare alone could persuade the paper to mend itself.

Her concentration was almost non-existent now; she felt as if the recent heat had severed all those links that usually allowed her brain to work as quickly and efficiently as her position on this ship required. What good was a navigator who could not even finish one measly map, she thought to herself, not quite bitterly, but rather with an immense anger directed towards the ridiculously high temperatures.

As if to prove how easily distractible she had become, muffled footsteps from the deck in front of her room caught her attention. Her eyes quickly found the source of the noise and an incredulous scowl gained control of her facial features.

'That idiot', she thought, shaking her head at the sight before her. Only that stupid swordsman would be single-minded enough to continue such strong physical exercise in a weather like this. With even Luffy stretched out moaning across the lawn on the back of the ship, Zoro's common sense could hardly be complimented. But then again, he never had been the most sensible person.

Nami's eyes hung lazily on the man, his perfectly rhythmic motions lulling her into a daze. The sweat on his exposed upper body caused him to glisten under the strong sunlight. Involuntarily, her glance wandered across the countless scars that adorned his arms and front, lingering ever so slightly on the most serious - and significant - gashes of all, the one that ran all the way from his shoulder to his hip and so easily could have cut his body in half; the wound he had so readily accepted from Mihawk after their first encounter. No, she reiterated with a short laugh, he had never been the most sensible person.

Letting out a quick yawn, she allowed her eyes to continue on their way tiredly, coming to a rest on his face. His jaws set firmly, brows knit in deep concentration, he seemed to be completely focused on his exercises. Even across the distance between their locations, she could see the rivers of sweat running down the tanned skin of his forehead. Well, what would you expect when engaging in physical activity in temperatures that would allow a fish to be fried on the deck without the need for a fire, she mused.

Just as she was about to finish her observations with a smart comment on his furrowed brows, the man in front of her suddenly halted his motions and turned his head to face her, his dark eyes shooting her an annoyed glare.

Nami was so taken aback that she almost jumped and toppled over in her chair. However, she was able to steady herself, not in the slightest feeling like admitting her surprise to him. Looking straight back at the swordsman, she put on a venomous look, one that would easily have made other men cower in fear. His reaction was exactly as she had anticipated: he rolled his eyes - and in her mind she could hear the low grunt that always accompanied actions such as these - and resumed his exercises.

Releasing a breath she never knew she had been holding, she rubbed her eyes to drive away the last remainders of the daze she had been in. Just what was his problem, she angrily demanded inwardly, it was not like she had been up to anything.

With a huff, she lower her gaze to the piece of paper in front of her. Yet what her eyes met on the otherwise white surface sent cold shivers rushing across her whole body. Up from the paper stared the perfect countenance of the swordsman, lightly doodled in the black ink she used to draw her maps, the black blots of his eyes smirking at her haughtily.

"What the hell?" she yelled as she jumped back, sending the chair crashing to the floor and stared at the doodle in front of her. Just what on earth could have possessed her to waste her precious paper and ink on that idiot's face?

With an annoyed growl, she grabbed the piece of paper and did what she should have done long ago: she crumbled into a tight ball, knocking over her bottle of ink in the process, and with - possibly too much - force, threw it into the direction of her paper basket... only to have it jump off the rim and slowly roll toward the door to come to a halt right before her feet.

Angrily, trying hard to not loose her mind over what seemed to be laughing in her face, she stomped on the small white ball with as much strength as she could muster, tore the door open and, after she had rushed through the opening, slammed it behind her.

It was definitely time for a cold shower, she concluded.

***

Zoro, who - since feeling her stare drill into him - had given his all to devote his full attention to his training, had not noticed anything of the small riot in Nami's room.

Several minutes went by, and again his concentration was nowhere near its normal form, so he was quite pleased when Sanji's call for lunch 'for the jerks and his lovely angels' reached his ears. Of course he never showed that pleasure but rather managed a scowl as the other members of the small crew answered the cook's call and scrambled for the kitchen.

Setting down his weights, he lazily made his way across the deck when he suddenly realized that the navigator did not seem to be following the summons. A slight annoyance rising in him, the green-haired man decided to allow himself to be side-tracked just a little and stopped at Nami's room.

Impatiently, he knocked on the door.

"Oi, Nami, lunch!" he commented curtly, expecting her to promptly yell back at him to mind his own business and get lost. But no such reply came. Rolling his eyes, he knocked again. When all that followed - once more - was silence, he finally dared to touch the handle and open the door.

No Nami. He exhaled. At least this would save him a lecture about intruding on her personal space, he thought to himself. Before turning around to leave, he threw a quick glance at the room she was usually working in. The desk was strewn with sheets of paper, some still empty, others maps finished to various degrees. In the back of the room, several other maps were hung to dry, well out of reach of the more chaotic members of the crew who could possibly do harm to her work - as it had happened before.

Yet unlike usually, her paper bin was filled to the brim. Dozens over dozens of pieces of paper crumbled up in a fit of anger he could imagine just a little too well. And right before his feet lay an especially neglected example; the one white paper was, like the others, squashed into a tight ball but, on top of that, appear to have also been stepped on. Curious as to what had ignited such rage in her, he bent down and picked up the disfigured shape.

As his rough fingers had managed to unfold the mishap object, the swordsman's eyebrows shot up in mild surprise. The last thing he had expected would be to have his own - even if admittedly wrinkled - drawn likeness stare up at himself.

Although it indubitably explained why this one above all others had fallen victim to such unusual cruelty, he realized with a smirk and unhurriedly stuffed the crude drawing into his pocket.

***

"Oi, Shitty Swordsman", Sanji commented instantly with a sour expression as the green-haired man entered the galley, "you want food, get your ass down at the table."

Nami watched as Zoro seemingly decided to ignore commenting on the hardly nice welcome and seated himself, digging into the contents of his plate. Aware of her eyes on him, he looked up quickly, raising his eyebrow with a smirk that sent shivers down her spine and forced her to involuntarily recoil against the wall.

What the hell was up with him today?

***

After lunch, Nami decided to return to her room and once more try to continue her work. Feelings of dread looming large in the back of her mind set aside, she persuaded herself that she could not miss her self-set deadline again, no matter how much frustration she was up for.

As she had reentered her study, she sank down on her chair surveying the mess she was now in the middle of. Her desk was dripping with black ink and her quill rolled around lazily in the dark pool. Huffing, slightly flustered, she wondered what had possessed her to leave her working place in such a condition instead of cleaning it up and limiting the damage.

Then it dawned on her, and her eyes flew open. That stupid doodle!

Frantically, her eyes scanned the room. She knew she had crumpled it up and thrown it to the floor, so it had to be there. The panic slowly creeping up on her, she jumped up and hurriedly looked around the room.

Nowhere. It wasn't there anymore.

Unwilling to accept the fact that it might have been lost and - in consequence - possibly found by someone else and reward her the most humiliating moment of her life, she rushed over to the paper basket and started skimming through the content.

Couldn't she just have thrown it in there after stomping on it without really paying attention? Yes, she must have, she tried to persuade herself.

"Looking for something?" a raspy voice rang through the study.

Nami's ears instantly perked up as she froze on the spot. Damn that man...

"What's it to you?" she decided to fall back on her cocky attitude to match the smug grin on his face and crossed her arms in front of her chest defensively. Yet on her inside, the dread was spreading. He had found it. And thus he now owned a tool to ridicule her to his liking. An idea she did not enjoy one bit, to say the least...

Yet the swordsman was enjoying himself tremendously. He had the upper hand in this game, and he was sure to cherish the feeling.

"Nothing in particular", he shrugged, and with an almost malicious delight pulled a wrinkled piece of paper from his pocket, looking at the content with scrutinizing eyes. "Though I don't think you got the eyes quite right."

Nami blushed furiously at his dry comment, her vivid imagination playing the most humiliating scenes before her inner eye and her anger began to boil.

"I have no idea what you intend to do with that", she screeched at him, stomping forward, "but you'll give that back to me. NOW!"

The swordsman simply raised his eyebrows in mock surprise and pulled his hand back.

"Actually I'm gonna keep this", he commented with a slightly confused look - and to her annoyance, the navigator could not quite tell whether he was mocking her again or not - and stored the paper safely in his pocket. "I'm on it, so it's mine." He explained his unique logic.

At this point, Nami was fuming. If he even dared trying...

"I'm warning you, if you even try to pull something you'll wish you never graced the world with your stupid face!"

"Yeah yeah, sure", Zoro replied simply, the smirk ineradicable, and made his way out onto the deck, gently patting his pocket for her to see.

The redhead growled in frustration as her eyes followed his cocky stride and witnessed the small gesture directed solely towards her. She hoped he knew her well enough to not try and use the accidental drawing against her.

She breathed in and out deeply, stopping the pulsating vein on her forehead and rewarded him with one last comment.

"Just for this, I'll be adding another 50.000 to your debt!" she called after him, "With interest!"

The swordsman simply waved his left arm in recognition of her words and gave a short laugh.

That stupid, single-minded, moss-headed idiot, Nami cursed inwardly, slammed the door hard enough for it to almost jump out of its hinges and dropped down on her chair heavily, frustrated.

God, I hope it'll be a winter island next...

A/N: Here we go. I'd been dying to write something One Piece, and especially ZoroxNami, in a while, but never quite knew what. This idea actually came to me while I was waking up this morning, so don't expect any miracles, plot-wise. Originally, I intended to let this stand as a one shot, but as the end looks now, it might easily turn into a multi-chaptered story (which would make it ZoNa eventually).. Let me know what you think. I'd really appreciate some reviews (and yes, I still need to revise, and will do so, but I just felt like sharing it with you already^^')