Zorobin: The Little Things

Long Ring Long Island 1

Zoro was sleeping when he heard Ussop shout "Land Ho!" This was the first real sleep he had gotten in days, Robin had barely spoken to him since he had messed up, and she had just stayed in the girl's room, reading. Zoro was angry with himself. Very angry. He went up to the upper deck to blow off some steam, and started his training regiment. Nami was watching him curiously, as he started with his warmup pushups. He had done about 200, and was going to switch to one handed, when he heard her speak.

"What's wrong, Zoro? You seem tense." He grunted at her "None of your business, witch." She scowled and said "Come on Zoro, I can tell when something is wrong with you." "Nothing's wrong." She sighed, and said "I don't want to bring up your debt, but if I have too..."

He stopped mid pushup, and looked up at her. She was looking at him with a sense of interest, and he could tell that whatever he said was going to be repeated later to another of the crew, most likely Robin, or Sanji.

He decided the best thing to do in this situation, was to give up, and walk away. Nami stared at his back, moving away from her. She didn't think, she only shouted "What's wrong Zoro, you too afraid?" She covered her mouth with horror, right after saying it, but she could tell the damage had already been dealt. His shoulders had slumped, and he hung his head as he disappeared below deck. "I'm so sorry Zoro." she whispered, hand still over her mouth.

Zoro couldn't tell what he felt. He was a mess emotionally, which was leaking over his physical state. He had been skipping meals and workouts to sit in the men's room, or in the storage room, and just think. He was mad at himself, angry at his decisions, sad that Robin hadn't talked to him in the last week, and he was ashamed that he didn't have the courage to speak to her and fix his mistake. He felt the worst he had his whole life, even worse than when Kuina had died.

At least then he had someone to look over him, and a clear goal in mind. He sat on his bed, and stared at the ceiling. He heard shouting for a while after he had gone below deck. When it didn't stop, and he heard someone wailing, he walked outside.

He could immediately tell something was wrong. First off, there was a ship trapping the Merry in. Secondly, the person crying was Chopper. Third off, he was wearing some stupid face mask, and was being held by a mildly attractive woman standing next to a guy with his hair split down the middle.

"Who's the stupid looking guy with the middle part, and why is Chopper crying?" he asked, after walking off the boat. "ZORO!" the little reindeer shouted, miraculously breaking free of the woman's death grip, and running over to him. He jumped towards the confused swordsman, who caught him in his arms. "What's wrong, Chopper?" he asked, consoling his furry friend.

"WHEN- THEY- I-." he sobbed. "Woah, hey, calm down, shhhhh, you're ok. I'm here now." He wrapped his arms around the little dude, and let him cry into his shirt. He vaguely heard the unbelievably ridiculous looking pirate, say something, but he paid no heed to him. The entire world was lost around them as he focused his entire being into stopping the small child's cries.

He felt a sense of bittersweet pang in his heart that echoed throughout his whole body, from his toes to the top of his head. Was this love? Not love like the love he had for Robin, or booze, but paternal love. He always thought of Chopper as someone who didn't need his protection, but maybe he was wrong. Maybe Chopper needed him more than Zoro needed Chopper. Zoro knew that his physical injuries would always heal fast, but Chopper's mental anguish would take much longer to heal. He felt the kid stiffen in his arms as he listened to the pathetic excuse for a pirate that was the other captain.

"So this is the famous pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro! Maybe I'll take you next, just like I took the doctor!" Chopper started crying afresh. "Zoro, they took me! I don't wanna be a foxy pirate, I wanna be a Strawhat Pirate with you and Robin and everyone else!"