𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 ˚ ONE PIECE

TWENTY-SIX

"Hey! Zoro!"

Shiori hears Luffy's voice from a nearby hallway, prompting her to change direction and head towards it.

"What's up my best friend in the whole entire universe! And Luffy." She exclaims when catching sight of them.

Zoro scrambles to quieten the two, seeming anxious "Sh! Shut up! Both of you, shut up!"

He starts to walk down the hallway, his heels clicking against the floor. The other two follow, seeing as it's the middle of the night, they have all the time in the world.

"Do you always carry those swords with you?" Luffy's eye catches the shine of the three katanas attached to his elders hip.

"Wherever I go, the Wado Ichmonji goes."

"That must suck in the shower." Shiori thinks of all the small things she does, and how hard it would be successfully doing them with three solid objects apart of her.

"You suck." Zoro mutters, the group momentarily travelling in silence after that.

"Where are you going anyways?" The curly hair questions.

"I'm looking for a drink. This place is a maze." He gets in reply.

Zoro looks at his companions, one of them looking around curiously while the other is kicking imaginary rocks, having remained quiet for a while and scuffing her shoes.

"How about you?"

Luffy grins, "Midnight snack."

They both direct their attention to Shiori, who looks at them with wide eyes.

"There's ghosts."

"Ghosts?" Zoro looks at the girl, one eyebrow raised.

"Yuh."

"M'kay."

"That's okay Shi. You can come with us!" Luffy grins, feeling rebellious. "C'mon. We'll follow my nose to the kitchen."

The captain turns around, setting off on his mission of finding food.

"Has anyone seen Nami? She wasn't in our room." Shiori skips a bit to catch up with the long strides of her friends.

"I saw her yesterday." Luffy speaks up, helpfully.

"Cheers mate. Appreciate the help."

After many wrong turns and dead ends, the trio eventually make it to the kitchen, an unexpected figure greeting them.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" Luffy marches in, startling the boy who thought he was alone.

"Not after that dinner," Usopp laughs but it sounds more like gasps for breath.

"I hope I didn't get you in trouble with Kaya," the curly haired gets straight to making himself a snack, "sometimes a get carried away."

"Oh no! It was worth it. Seeing that look on Klahdore's face." The two laugh together like old friends. "I thought his head was gonna explode!"

Zoro advances to the wine cabinet and successfully finds what he desires. Shiori, however, has no point in being in the kitchen except for the fact she thinks the ghosts will stay away if there's other people around. She shuffles in place before heading to one of the counters and sitting herself on it.

"All that stuff true that you said? About the clown and the axe-hand guy?" Usopp also looks towards his longer term friend, trusting her more than he trusts Luffy, who he had met only the day prior.

"Mhm! Every word." Luffy answers verbally, while Shiori slightly nods, "I mean, they're not as exciting as your adventures."

"Yeah.." guilt flashes in Usopp's eyes, before he hides it, "and the One Piece, are you really going after that?"

"Yep. I'm gonna be the one to find it too."

"I thought we were gonna find it as a team." Shiori scowls, thinking her captain wasn't selfish like most others.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Luffy waves his hand at her, not even looking towards her direction.

Zoro takes a seat near Shiori, though on an actual chair, and pats her knee as a silent greeting, receiving a light kick in return.

"I wish I could do that." Usopp's dreams sparks an idea in Shiori's mind, yet it was quickly shut down, "But.. I cant leave. Kaya needs me."

"Is she your girlfriend or something?" Zoro talks for the first time since entering the kitchen, his words temp Shiori to kick him again, which she does, albeit this time a lot harder.

"W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-what?!" Usopp slightly stutters, shocked by the bluntness of the man he has hardly had a conversation with since meeting him.

"If you need any help with relationships, I'm your guy," Luffy raises his hand, winking multiple times just to make sure everyone sees, "or should I say.. Zoro's guy."