He's calling for blood.

Howling and begging for it.

And for once, Zoro considers obliging Sandai Kitetsu.

But the sight of her, broken and bleeding but still reaching out for him, stops him in his tracks. "Z-Zoro…"

It was pure reflex that had him by her side, holding her hand gently, "It'll be alright…"

He doesn't like being around when the others were with her.

And the others were always with her.

Nami didn't like it very much.

Usopp likes to hang around a bit with Franky and Brooke, but the three of them tire her out and Chopper always send them away. She sees Luffy a lot, Sanji even more, and as always when one of them was hurt, Chopper sticks by her as if afraid she'd slip away with the wind. Robin was the most understanding - the one kept her silence and gave her privacy.

The one she wanted to see was Zoro.

She wanted to be alone with him.

What she wanted was to rest.

Zoro sneaks in at midnight and Nami could finally close her eyes.

When she is finally cleared by Chopper and is allowed out of bed, Zoro stays conspicuously close.

So much so that even Luffy had begun to notice - and call him out on it, embarrassingly enough.

Nami doesn't even acknowledge it or tease him about it.

Zoro was a man of small gestures, she understands. So she doesn't get irritated with his constant quiet watching presence like she does when Sanji overstays his welcome.

She knows seeing her like that had hurt him, scared him more than he'd like to admit and she understands - which is the most important thing.

He wants to be there for her even if it was just for the slightest, tiniest thing.

Sunny sways roughly and she loses her balance.

She could catch herself, but she needs this. He needs this too.

He'd been waiting for this.

So when he reaches for her, she reaches back.