Thrice Prophesized - Zoro x Reader

Chapter 14: Prophet-ethical

"Is this another winter island?" You ask. "Or is it just winter for this island?"

"It's both a winter island that is currently in the midst of winter." Robin explains, reading over some notes.

"Chopper, Zoro, Brook and Sanji are going to accompany Luffy this time." Nami says. "The cold's too big a risk for the rest of the crew. There's a port town nearby that's friendly, so Jinbei and Robin will get supplies. Franky can you help them?"

"Suuuuuuper glad to do so, Nami!" Franky answers. He seems to be shivering a little, but he still doesn't have any pants on.

"Then, I-."

"You're coming with us." Zoro says as Luffy's arms stretch past his coat and yank you over to the away group.

"M-me? Why? I - I mean, this is your crew's big quest right? I shouldn't interfere." You reply, untangling yourself from Luffy's arms. Avoiding Zoro was hard enough to do on the ship, and you knew there was still more he wanted to talk about, but if you went with the adventure team you wouldn't be able to get away.

Well, but he wouldn't force you to talk with everyone else around either. So it wouldn't be that uncomfortable, and you really did want to see more than just a couple towns' worth of an island.

"Aside from Chopper you're the best suited to this island. If something goes wrong, you can get us back to the Sunny." Sanji says. "Not that we expect anything we can't handle to happen, but the weather can be more dangerous than the creatures here."

"Mr. Brook is -."

"-not strong enough to haul us back by himself." Zoro says flatly.

"Besides, I want you to come along!" Luffy adds cheerfully. "You shouldn't go back home until you've gone on an adventure with me!"

It wasn't a strange thing to say, and the statement had you torn between feeling accepted by the crew and sad at the reminder that you'd be leaving them behind. Regardless of the swirl of emotions, you found it was exceptionally difficult to deny Luffy's honest request. You felt like people couldn't bring themselves to say no to him as often as they'd like.

"Alright, then I would be delighted, captain."

It was quite the sight as the five of you set off in the snow. Chopper made himself large - a form you remember him using to carry you when you were hurt - and let Luffy sit on his shoulders as he plowed through the snow and made a path for most of the rest of you. Brook walked atop the snow, keeping an eye out a full waist-height above the rest of you. It hadn't been surprising to see him do it, after all you had seen him run across the water, so you knew he was light footed.

Sanji and Zoro got along surprisingly well. There was some bickering between them at the beginning of things, but once the ship was out of sight the two of them seemed to focus on the surroundings more than whatever rivalry was between them.

Even with Chopper plowing the way at the front, it was always slow going in such deep snow. You missed your winter magic at a time like this because you could've used it to make a path.

When the sun started to set it was clear you weren't going to find a cave or a thicket for shelter. You had all brought supplies, but this island's weather was severe, and now was probably the worst time to be on this island without shelter.

"I know you lot are amazingly strong, so I'm going to make a suggestion I wouldn't bother bringing up with anyone else," you start explaining. "But there's two things that are good to know in weather like this. Controlled packed snow is a good insulator, and if you can get to the dirt, even just a few feet down, it'll be tens of degrees warmer than the night air. If we can get into a dirt depression and roof it with snow, you'll all be warm for the night."