Chapter 20: Remember

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You wake up in Chopper's infirmary. For better or worse you were getting used to the sight, but it was certainly a comforting one right now. You could feel the restriction of bandages and the soft scent of salve fill your senses as you looked around. Leaning against the wall at the foot of the bed was Zoro, his three swords on one side of him, your sword on the other.

"Hey." You say it quietly. Some small part of you wants to hope he's sleeping deeply enough he'll continue to do so.

Zoro's eye opens and he looks over at you. There's a break in the usual glower that normally graces his face, and you catch a fleeting smile.

"Hey." He says back, not moving, but leaning his head back against the wall. "How do you feel?"

"Not bad. Little sore, but I think I got off easy, considering the odds." You admit. "How long?"

"Not long. Few hours."

"Mm." You sit up slowly, and you can feel the bruising on your back from hitting the mountain side at the end of the fight. You hadn't had a drop of haki left to protect yourself with, and barely had enough to soften Dalmatian's last swing. "Vice Admirals are not weak."

"Marine captains aren't either." He insists.

You grunt. "Any idea how Tashigi and Koby fared?"

"They kept asking for some key, but," Zoro shrugs. "We didn't stick around."

You smile, reaching into your pocket and pulling out the key. "I'm surprised it stayed in my pocket this whole time."

There's a pause and then Zoro starts to laugh. "You're why they were like that? Hahaha!" You hadn't heard him laugh before now, but some part of you would risk a lot to keep hearing it.

You smile as the laughter fades, and something in your expression causes Zoro to look away. Looking away from him you move a little more, swinging your legs over the bed and sitting up enough to stretch and pop tight muscles and test the aches of the bruises you collected in the last fight.

"Where are we now?"

"Huh?" Zoro seems to have been pulled out of his own thoughts.

"The ship," you say. "Where are we now?"

"A day out from the island. We coup de burst'd once, to make space between us and the Marine ships, but we've been waiting for you to wake up before we did it again." He explains. "Chopper wanted to wait until you were up, in case anything internal felt wrong."

You slip off the bed and bend and twist to see if anything feels wrong. Your sore, you can feel aches and bruises all over the place, and your muscles are still achy from the exhaustion you pushed into them running with Luffy on your back and then facing the Vice Admirals.

You look over at Zoro. "I feel... sore." You admit with a small smile. "But nothing feels concerning." You take a deep breath in and wince, grabbing your side. "Bruised or fractured rib maybe." You groan. Generally, you kept your breathing under control out of habit, but it was

"Hungry?"

You nod and Zoro stands up, putting his swords back on his hip, and putting your sword on the other side. He steps past you, opening the door into the kitchen and stepping back so you can go through. You give your thanks and step past him, slowly straightening back up as the pain in your side subsides.

You have a good meal, with a little help from Zoro you eat your fill. It's not that chewing hurts, it's that you're smattered in bruises and any movement at all leaves you tender. Between him and Sanji, you want for nothing throughout the meal. Sanji was often one to provide such service, but the action from Zoro was a little distracting.

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