𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓷 𝓸𝓯 𝓪 𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮 (Zoro x Reader)

Chapter 3 - Tired

The storm passed after a while and it was getting late, Zoro asked one last time if you were sure you didn't want to come with him to the dojo, and for the hundredth time, you refused again, he respected my decision and after a while came back with the dojo outfit, one that looked like the one he was wearing but smaller.

"Here you go, I don't know your exact size but I think this one might fit you"

"Thank you" You said grabbing the outfit and beginning to take off the "clothes" You were wearing.

"Oi! Don't take off your clothes in front of me!" Zoro said looking away red from embarrassment.

"Why not?" You asked, continuing to change into your new clothes, completely oblivious to what was happening, it made no difference to you, really, you didn't see the problem.

"Dummy! A girl doesn't change in front of a guy! It's awkward!" He said still blushing 'How ignorant was this strange girl?' Zoro thought to himself.

"Zoro, I need help, I can't move my legs and my arms are aching too much... I guess I overdid it..."

"What do you mean?" He asked confused, still looking away.

"They're hurting... I guess the tiredness caught up to me too... Actually... I am... pretty tired..." You yawned as your senses came crashing down.

Zoro heard a loud thud and looked back to check if something happened to you, only to find you lying down on the ground, you only managed to put the top part of the outfit, so it was better than nothing. Zoro came close to you and got relieved when he noticed you only fainted from exhaustion and checked to see if you got hurt when falling, but nothing happened, he got pretty tired too and he leaned back on the tree, eventually falling asleep too.

When Zoro woke up, he was covered in a giant soft rose petal, he looked around realizing he had fallen asleep on the tree next to you, he looked to his side feeling some weight on his shoulder, only to see you sleeping. 'When did she get on my shoulder?' He wondered before he started to wake you up from your "nap".

"H-huh...?" You had a hangover from sleeping too little and was still very tired, you adjusted yourself on Zoro's shoulder and went back to sleep, unbothered.

Zoro gave up after trying for quite a lot of time to wake you up, and when I say quite a lot... It was A LOT... 'You must be pretty tired...' He thought to himself as he laid his head on yours, "What did she go through?" he thought, and because there was nothing he could do, he just decided to go back to sleep, he couldn't get up after all because you were sleeping on his shoulder, and he saw no problem in taking a nap too since he loved to sleep.

12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00... The hours passed and neither of you had woken up, it was starting to get late again...

Zoro finally woke up after a while but to his surprise, you weren't there.

It couldn't be...

There was no trace of you, nor trace of the rose nor the petal that covered you both.

But it felt so real...

He searched and called out for you but you just weren't there, you disappeared without a trace, or maybe...

It was all his imagination... 

But Zoro put aside that though or he might start thinking he's going crazy because of Kuina's death, but no matter how much he searched, you just weren't there, you were nowhere, that's when he remembered...

rowboat!

He ran to the beach as fast as he could to prove to himself he wasn't crazy, that's when he saw you trying to fix the run-down "boat", he sighed in relief, he wasn't going crazy... yet... thank goodness.

"Oi! Don't scare me like that!" Zoro shouted, walking towards you

"Huh?" You looked to your side and saw Zoro 'Oh no... I woke him up... He looks mad... He's going to hit me...' You thought to yourself, scared.

"Oi! Don't just disappear out of nowhere!"

Zoro was getting closer and closer as you started getting more and more scared and anxious with each step he took, he was going to hit you, hurt you, or at least that's what you thought, when he came close enough he saw the terror in your face, not to mention the tears that were threatening to pour out.

"Are you ok? Why are you scared?" Zoro asked as he looked at you with confusion and slightly worried.

"I-I'm sorry... Please don't hit me..." You said, curled up next to the rowboat trembling in fear.

"I won't, why would I?" He replied.

"B-Because I made you mad..." You said, still trembling, you had managed to get a good part of your energy back but you still felt the pain in your arms from rowing so much the previous days you spent on the boat, and you still hadn't eaten anything.

"I won't hit you just because I'm mad, you just had me worrie-"

"Y-You... You... were... You were worried about me?" You asked with tearful eyes.

Zoro wasn't lying when he said he was worried, but because you didn't let him finish, you thought it was because of you going away, well... Technically it was, but he was actually worried he might have been going crazy and imagined everything that happened with you and that you were just a hallucination his mind created because of how much Kuina's death destroyed him on the inside, but he didn't correct you because it might seem rude and disrespectful, so he just went with it.

"Y-yeah..." He answered awkwardly

"No one really had gotten worried because of me before... Thank you" You smiled at him, letting him know you appreciated it a lot.

"Zoro..." You started.

"Yeah?"

"Will you be my friend?"

"Sure" He didn't give it much thought as he already had thought of you as a friend, especially since seeing you be so oblivious to everything around you, he thought you might die without someone taking care of you, and because you refused to go to the dojo for unknown reasons he just took up the job.

"R-really...? Yay! My first friend!" You shouted happily as you hugged Zoro.

It was a bit awkward for him but he just hugged you back, not knowing what else to do except for that, but he was a bit surprised since you were already 7 years old and didn't have a single friend, not counting with him just now.

"What are you doing?" Zoro asked.

"Oh, I was trying to remend my rowboat, it's a bit damaged but still usable"

"She went all the way from another island to here in that?" Zoro asked himself as he looked at the "boat" you were trying to fix, it seriously didn't look like a boat, at all... "Why was she trying to fix it?" He thought but quickly drove that thought away, you seemed happy and he didn't want to ruin that for you, maybe it was because he lost Kuina, but he liked being around someone new for a change and because you were so unaware of things, something that might have been awkward wasn't, but at the same time, making things that were supposed to be basic sense awkward, but he didn't mind.

After a while Zoro went back to training as you watched him with nothing to do, you didn't know why he was training though, but it was nice to have a friend who cared about you, so you wanted to just watch him and praise him from time to time.

The days passed, which quickly turned into weeks, and then into months, not to mention that in only after about 3 days you had completely gained your energy back as you found some fruits in the forest and slept better, you also managed to comb your hair somehow... let's not dive into that very much... Zoro would sleep at the dojo, of course, but on rare days he'd make an exception, mostly when it was stormy because he knows you don't like the sound of thunder...

And before you both knew it,

a year had passed.