The Blind Date {One Piece Valentines 2023}

The Blind Date: Roronoa Zoro

You had been single far too long, and trying to meet men the usual way was causing you to pull your hair out. You finally stated to your friends that you were giving up on finding love all together. However, they were all sad to see you become so jaded. As a surprise, they set you up for a blind date on Valentine's Day. Everything was taken care of for you. A light dinner, a movie, and the man.

While you were not initially thrilled with the idea of being "gifted" a blind date, they had assured you that you were in for a good time. You cleaned yourself up, put on your favorite date night outfit and headed out. Now that you were here, you fiddled with your hands in front of the water fountain at the park, nervously waiting for your date to arrive. You checked your phone to look at the picture your friends had sent, wondering what he would really be like...

He was quite good looking, though rather intimidating in his picture. Nami had set up this date with a man she said was an old friend named Zoro, who was practically like a brother to her (it made you wonder why you had never met him before). She described him as rough around the edges, but a good guy. "Just don't let him be the one to lead." That was her only instruction, and you weren't entirely sure what she had meant by that. Her and your friends were the ones who set up this date, what exactly was it he was not supposed to be "leading?"

Time had passed from when you two were supposed to meet there in the park. The first five minutes you figured things were okay, maybe he just got held up somewhere; but at ten and then fifteen minutes you began to worry. At thirty, you had wondered if maybe he had stood you up when a scowling man came running through the small crowd of people at the park. He was a little out of breath and holding a somewhat crushed bouquet of flowers in his hand, green hair a mess and clothes a little rumpled. His scared left eye was the most noticeable feature at first, and what you recognized the most from the picture.

The man panted a bit, looking to you as he swallowed down some air, "Y-Y/N, right?"

"Um... Yes. You must be Zoro," you gave a slight nervous smile, especially since he was far more attractive in person than his picture. Offering your hand in greeting, you felt a heat in your cheeks, "I was starting to think you weren't going to make it."

"Sorry about that," he stated gruffly, looking at your hand oddly as he put the flowers in it, "Here. Nami said you liked these."

Though some of them were a little damaged, and the bouquet was not the most impressive in size, it was full of your favorite flowers. It brought a genuine smile to your face that you beamed up at the man. You almost missed the light blush it caused across his cheeks, giving you a small nod and a faint smirk with it.

"Should we get going?" He cleared his throat some, "Don't want to miss that dinner reservation."

As you nodded, you opened your phone to pull up your map app for directions, only for your phone to die. You had not realized you forgot to charge it in your nervousness, biting your lip as you ran your hand through your hair, "Well this is embarrassing..."

His own hands went into the pockets of his jacket, the movement somehow bringing attention to the three gold earrings as they shifted in the fading sunlight, "It's okay, I know where we're going."

You gave him another bright smile, addressing him to lead the way as you both walked side by side. The two of you chatted idly, learning about one another's lives casually, distracted by the other's company before you realized you may have made a wrong turn somewhere. Chalking it up to being too caught up in your conversations, you brushed it off as you asked for directions and finally found the restaurant. However, it had now been an hour since your reservation time, and they had given your table away. It would be another hour or more before they would even have another table open, given the holiday.

But that was alright, you still had a movie to see. You said that you two could just get some popcorn and enjoy it, then grab a late bite afterwards instead. Zoro, again, insisted he knew exactly where the theater was, and the two of you started walking in the direction he pointed at. Only when the movie was forty-five minutes past the start, and you two were on the other side of town, did you look at Zoro and suddenly realize Nami's words.

"Do not let him lead."

You let out a sigh, Zoro grumbled that he couldn't believe they moved the movie theater. As he scratched the back of his head in frustration, you felt your stomach grumble. He looked down to you, meeting his gaze as you realized that it meant he had heard it. The man chewed on the inside of his lip.

"The whole night kind of got messed up, huh?"

"That's okay," you took his arm and gave it a small squeeze, then looked at the flowers still in your other hand. Despite it all, he was great company, and just talking with him was enjoyable. You smiled to him reassuringly, "I've been having a wonderful time."

You noticed pink spreading across his cheeks to his ears, his good eye unable to meet yours. As he looked away, he then smirked a bit and pointed to a little sushi joint tucked away between some larger buildings, "Hey, I know that place. Maybe we can just get something to eat and tell Nami we went to the other places."

Giggling, you followed him yet again, but this time you made it to your destination (thank god it was in front of you), and took seats at the counter. You both ordered a lot of specialty rolls and a bottle of sake to share. The night continued with laughter and merriment between you both, not a care in the world that none of it went to plan. It was already perfect in its own way, and you were so captivated by Zoro's smile.

After he walked you home (you knew where you were going after all), you did not stop him when he leaned in to kiss you. It was a soft kiss that just reassured in your mind that no matter the journey, you would follow this man anywhere.