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EPISODE 6 : THE CHEF & THE CHORE BOY ( In A Good Way )
IT DOES NOT take an army to raise Roronoa Zoro. It only takes one Estrella Narváez and her golden tears to make his eyes flutter open.
The hours after Nami's betrayal leave Estrella a jagged mess. She doesn't like believing that her bond with the orange-haired girl meant anything more than an alliance to a crew neither wanted to be part of, but the emptiness that settles against her chest begs to differ.
There is only one person Estrella cares to talk to, and it's solely because he is incapable of listening. Roronoa Zoro lays in Nami's bed, a picture of ailing skin and drying bones, and Estrella talks to him because it is the only thing she can do to keep the tears from slipping down her cheeks.
( She has already lost enough, and she knows the feeling better than anyone, but it still aches nonetheless ).
"Good riddance," The brunette spits as her hands gently smooth over the clammy skin of Zoro's palms, thumbs pressing and searching for any signs of a life beyond gaunt cheeks and hollow eye sockets. "I didn't like that thief anyway."
Estrella has always been a good liar. She can fool others, and she can fool the world, but even the best liars cannot fool themselves. She cannot fool the palpitating organ in her chest that yearns for the scent of sun-dried tangerines and the bright carrot-orange hair that has since obstructed her life.
( She misses the caramel-coated smiles, and the peppered freckles against pale skin, and she misses Nami because she reminds Estrella so much of a girl she had once loved ).
Estrella sighs loudly, as though her agony could magically transfer into Zoro's sleep-addled mind. Her grip on his hand tightens unconsciously.
"Can you just wake up already?" The brunette murmurs. "I'm sick of acting like your nurse."
The silence rings within Estrella's ears, and she is reminded how much she hates the quiet. It gnaws away at the pit of her stomach, clawing through her windpipe and spilling over her tongue, staining her teeth with the feeling of suffocation.
Estrella doesn't realize she's crying until her tears drip golden on her tan skin. She has grown so, so weak.
( But she feels so, so loved ).
"Please," Estrella begs softly, and she cannot recall the last time she had ever pleaded like this.
( She can, but she chooses not to think of her hoarse cries and the feeling of being submerged in treacherous waters in search of a girl that had become more ocean than girl ).
