The Blind Brawler [ Roronoa Zoro X OC]

Chapter 9

"What do you mean I'm not allowed to go inside?" I growled at the young redheaded nurse.

"I-I'm sorry, Roronoa-san, but Kaori-oneesan has ordered that you and your crewmates not be allowed past this door. Besides, even if she hadn't, Chief Anna strictly barred you specifically from entering after you fought with and worsened the condition of her patient," The girl spoke dutifully, but she was trembling. It wouldn't surprise me if she drew the short straw to break the news to me.

"Worsened the condition?" I repeated quietly, "Is Kaori alright?"

"She will recover, but she should not be disturbed," The nurse answered, "You may still come to the hospital wing to visit your crewmate, Sanji-kun, but you may not visit Kaori-oneesan," With that last warning of dismissal, she turned and walked back down the hall of the hospital wing, leaving me standing next to Kaori's locked door.

I turned and made my way toward the gardens. My mind was overtaken with troublesome thoughts of Kaori, "Did she ban me because we fought? She doesn't seem to be the petty type. No, she loves to fight, if anything she'd invite me to come more. Why then, and what was with the 'worsened condition' comment? We didn't fight for very long, I pinned her quickly. Though she did have a nasty fall when I tripped her, right after I threw her into the wall. Geez, now that I think about it, with her cracked ribs and other injuries, I may have hurt her worse than I thought."

I had not realized, but I had stopped walking. I stood in the center of the hallway, mulling the situation.

After standing like an idiot for who knows how long, my thoughts were broken by a woman's voice, "Roronoa-san, is everything alright?" I whipped around to face Emiko looking up at me.

"Yeah, just a lot on my mind I suppose," I answered her.

"I can tell. You were standing there for a good five minutes," She smiled. I shifted in embarrassment and gave a halfhearted grunt of indifference. She tilted her head and lost the smile, "So have you spoken to your captain and crew about my request?"

I softly smirked, "You didn't waste any time dropping that bomb, huh?" She shrugged and I sighed, "No I haven't spoken to them yet. I'm still trying to work out whether they want her on board or not. Plus, I'd much rather she come with us of her own free will, instead of your twisted plan of kidnapping."

"We discussed this before, Roronoa-san. I am ready to take any repercussions that come with Kaori-oneesan leaving. We all lived with Isamu-sama's abuse before Kaori-oneesan, and we can do it again," She stated confidently.

"That's not what I meant!" I snapped at her. She looked up at me in surprise before I continued, "If you truly respected Kaori and wanted the best for her, you wouldn't force her to leave the island and give up her goal of becoming the best fighter!"

"I'm trying to get her off the island so she can make that goal a reality!" She whimpered back.

"By forcing her to lose this fight with Isamu?!" She stood shocked for a moment then looked down at the floor. I did not stop, "You should know that she would see it as running away from the fight, whether it was her choice or not. She would never forgive herself or you. Is that really what you want? To have her scorn on you? To have the responsibility of her defeat on your shoulders?"

"Enough!" She screamed. We stood in silence for a while. I glared at her as she chewed on her lip and avoided my gaze. She sighed, "Enough. I think we both need to calm down," I was about to object but she cut me off, "I need to think about this for a while. Until then, please hold off on telling your crewmates our plan."

"Thank you," I nodded.

Before I had a chance to walk away, she grabbed my arm, "I was serious about needing to calm down. A trip to the spa would do you some good."