True Desire: A One Piece Fanfiction

Chapter 6: White Marimo!

Zoro came back to the men's quarters as fast as he could without breaking into a run. He was carrying the chibi cook under his right arm while his hand was still on the boy's mouth preventing him from speaking.

 As they entered the dorm Zoro shut the door behind him, let the boy down and banged his own head on the door. He then began to punch the door out of frustration. Once ....twice ...thrice ......four times! At the same time Zoro muttered under his breath.

Zoro: (muttering to himself) 'Why .....why ......why ....why the hell did I say that to the squirt? Am I mad? Call me "marimo" when we are alone! Am I out of my mind? If the squirt had told everyone that I told him to call me marimo what would they think? It's all that curly eyebrows fault! Yeah ...yeah that's what it is! He called me that stupid name so many times every day that I got used to it! So now I was feeling uneasy not being called by that name even once! So I said that! Right it's all the LOVE COOK'S FAULT!' (self justification)

Little Sanji was getting worried watching Zoro's odd behaviour. When Zoro had punched the door for the fourth time he quickly came to Zoro's side and grabbed his hand.

Sanji: (tightly clasping onto Zoro's hand with his small body, eyes shut he yells) 'No marimo! Don't hurt yourself! Why are you doing this?'

Zoro stopped and turned to look at the boy.

Sanji: (concerned voice) 'Marimo why is your face red like a tomato? Are you sick?'

Zoro: (after having reached a conclusion to his internal self justification) 'It's all your fault!' (in an emotionless voice)

Sanji was dumbstruck for a moment and then his big, bright, blue eyes began to quiver, tears brimming on their edge. His lips quivered and sniffling the boy said, 'I ...I was bad? .....sniffle .....Did I do something bad to you marimo? ....sniffle ......Are you mad at me now marimo?'

The swordsman was pulled back to his senses by the child's crying face.

Zoro: (patting the chibi cook's head as he smiled at the child and said gently) 'Stupid curly! What are you talking about? You couldn't even hurt a fly if you wanted! What bad thing could you possibly do to me?'

Sanji: (still sniffling) 'So ....so ....you are not angry at me?'

Zoro: (reassuringly) 'Of course not! So now stop crying!'

Sanji: (after thinking for a bit) 'Then marimo did the big me do something bad to you? Did you get angry at the big me?'

At this Zoro recalled the image of the big cook clad in Zoro's jacket with his exposed pale legs, his flushed face, his smile when he found the shoes Zoro had bought for him and the view as the cook sat on top of Zoro's legs trying to open his pants! Zoro forcefully shook his head from side to side to stop the barrage of images flowing into his mind.

 Zoro's face was turning red again. He didn't give a straight answer to the chibi cook's question. Instead he embraced the child, lifting him up with one arm.

Zoro: 'It ...it's complicated okay so let's not talk about this.'

Zoro: (cheerfully) 'Let's go and take a bath instead, alright?'

Sanji: (meekly) 'The big me is bad. He did bad things to marimo. Marimo doesn't like the big me!'

Sanji: (suddenly embraces Zoro's neck with both hands, sinking his face in Zoro's shoulder) 'I won't become big any more marimo! I want to stay small! Or else you won't like me!!'

Zoro: (completely taken aback by these words) 'Huh!'

Zoro couldn't bring himself to talk more on the subject because he didn't know how to explain his weird relationship with the big cook to the chibi one. However the fact that the small child didn't want to go back to his real form just for Zoro was both endearing at the same time unsettling for the swordsman.