𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓷 𝓸𝓯 𝓪 𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮 (Zoro x Reader)

Chapter 5 - Bonding

After that river episode, Zoro dragged you back to the spot you first met, which later on turned into the spot where you'd meet daily and he had to drag you because you were still too weak, and even if you tried he wouldn't let you move a muscle, worried for you.

He laid you against the tree, sitting down next to you after he did so, neither of you saying a word, with an awkward silence reigning over you both. Neither of you looked at each other, avoiding eye contact to not make the situation even worse. Not to mention you saw Zoro crying but didn't tell him because he'd get embarrassed and probably would make the current situation even worse... That is... If that was even possible.

"Thanks for saving me..." You broke the silence.

"No problem..." Zoro answered

And then right after, the awkward silence came back, you both had surprisingly nothing to say to each other, nothing came to mind, the only thing that you were both thinking of was what happened just now, and neither of you wanted to talk about it, probably because it was something you both wanted to forget as soon as possible.

The sky started getting awfully cloudy and you both knew that when it started to get like this, it would start to rain soon, and heavily at that.

A storm was coming.

You looked at Zoro to see if he'd get closer to you because it was a stormy night, and he normally hugs you so you don't feel scared, but you got disappointed when he didn't, or at least that's what you thought, because moments after, Zoro scootched over to you just before the thunder was heard, you hugged him tightly as you flinched with the sound, scared, as he put his arm around you, which wasn't as difficult to do as he reminded you at least once a week how small you were. He hated to admit it, but he felt protective over you, maybe it was because you reminded him of Kuina from your kind and bold personality, and he wanted to protect you because there was nothing he could have done to protect her, even if he was still just a child and a year older than you.

As you felt Zoro's arm around you, you felt safe and relaxed more, it always helped you calm down when there were storms, and neither of you would say it but you both enjoyed it a lot, not to mention Zoro liked to pat your head because of your silky hair, he found out about it after you magically managed to undo the bird's nest your hair had become, and you also liked to mess with his hair, you could say it had some sort of fluff to in, and it felt nice, like grass, or moss, that was soothing to the touch.

You both finally felt relaxed after the anxiety of before, you did almost die after all, and Zoro would blame himself untill the end of times for it, but well, that didn't happen, and now you were both waiting for the storm to pass. You could say storms were scary and good at the same time because the thunders make you flinch in fear, but you get to enjoy it when Zoro's there.

"Zoro... are we still friends?" You asked, a bit worried he would still be mad at you from before.

"Of course we are, dummy" He answered, reassuring you, making you feel able to finally relax, not needing to worry about those negative thoughts bugging your mind anymore.

"Zoro..." You started

"What?" He asked.

"You asked why I didn't want to tell you the reason-"

"Yeah, and I'm sorry for that, I was being rude knowing it was a sensitive topic for you, and despite knowing that, I still asked"

"Well, it's because I have a bad past with swordsmen..."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to"

"Yeah... But I feel like I need to... After you saved me, even though I shouted at you and treated you badly..."

"Ok then..."

You took a deep breath before starting.

"Well, when I was a baby, my dad left my mom... I don't really remember what he looked like, and my mom never really talked about him as far as I can remember... Some strange people came up to me, I recognized some of them as "friends" of my mom, it seemed like they had some stuff to take care of with my dad... I didn't know what they meant by that at the time, but before I could do anything, they... They knocked me out... And that was the last time I saw my mom... They kidnaped me and-..."

you took a deep and shaky breath as all the memories started flooding in your mind all at once, memories that were long forgotten and that needed to stay that way.

"T-They sold me... as a slave... for some rich people that had a high status in some city..."

"But I managed to escape to another city close by, and because of how lucky I am, I found the same group of swordsmen there... They were still close to the city because of some type of business, and the second they saw me, they ran after me, but since I was much younger, they easily captured me, and put me back in a ship, and sold me... again... I don't know how long the trip lasted on the ship, but it sure lasted a long time... At least months... I'm pretty sure I turned six on that trip... After being on that ship for so long I learned about the timetables of the guards and managed to escape... I fled to a nearby island where... I met some boys..."

You smiled at the happy memories from good times, which were pretty much the only happy times from your past before you met Zoro.

"We always had the best time together..."

Then your smile faded

"But of course, life had other plans and that time was short as those swordsmen quickly noticed I was missing and had escaped, so I had to run away, I made that rowboat and sadly had to say goodbye to them, and after rowing for so long, I found this island..."

You told Zoro the truth, but not the whole truth, you left some details out, not wanting to bother Zoro even more with your own problems, you needed to deal with them alone since you didn't want to lose Zoro by making him tired of you from all the problems you had.

Zoro just listened to you quietly while you told your story, not intervening or saying any comments about it, but when you finished telling him, he hugged you tighter, just a little, careful not to hurt you, it was his way of saying that he was here for you and that you didn't need to worry about that anymore.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, you deserved to kno-"

"Don't worry about it, now I do..."

You smiled softly as you adjusted yourself in Zoro's embrace, he also laid his head on yours as he carefully patted your head, you loved it, especially on stormy nights, and he knew it.

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(Sorry for making this backstory, especially this chapter, so long. I want to do a time skip, but I always get these ideas before I manage to do it, I promise in the next part I'll do a time skip to where (y/n) and Zoro are adults or at least of age to go to the next island, sorry again and I hope you're enjoying the story!)

(Also sorry for making such a HUGE backstory, I know that I mix together a lot of things and this isn't an OC x Zoro, so I'll try to make it as enjoyable as possible from here on out WITHOUT putting too much information, so you readers can choose what you want (y/n) to be)