The Blind Brawler [ Roronoa Zoro X OC]

Chapter 70: Crimes and Lies

I glared at the White Beret soldiers standing at attention in front of us. They looked ridiculous with their baggy cloud pattern pants and snobbish attitude. My grip on Sandai Kitestu tightened slightly, "These guys are a bunch of jokes. They don't honestly think they have any chance of enforcing any kind of 'Heaven's Judgement' on us, do they? Cause I will gladly give them a reality check."

The cook scoffed as he turned his back on the troop, "Oh, whatever, man," He took a drag from his cigarette to calm himself before he addressed the rest of us, "Let's forget these idiots. We need to start looking for Nami. I'm getting worried. She may need my tender affections right about now."

My jaw clenched in frustration at his ridiculous white-knight talk. I was still ticked off with him about causing the fight between me and Kaori earlier that day.

Chopper seemed concerned as he turned to look up at Sanji, "Is she in trouble?"

"I doubt it," Luffy answered, placing one hand on his hip and scratching the back of his head.

Kaori tilted her ear towards them, "Trouble or not, she is still missing. We should go look for her."

The rubber man grinned at her and nodded, raising his fist excitedly, "Soon as the wind changes direction, we can head out for another adventure. I mean, to look for Nami."

Usopp yelped in panic and ran up to Luffy, grabbing him by the shoulders, "Listen to me!"

Luffy looked startled and confused by the cowardly sniper's outburst, "Usopp, are you doin' okay?"

The cowardly sniper's expression shifted from panicked to a controlled and contemplative calm. I inwardly sighed, knowing that he was about to try and manipulate the naive rubberman into taking the safer option. He let go of Luffy's shoulders as he spoke with a curious tone, "You know, Cap'n. If Nami's just taking a joy ride around the island, she may be back any minute. If we leave now, we could miss her. We don't want that now, do we?"

"You think so?" Luffy said with a concerned hum.

My girlfriend crossed her arms as she frowned at Usopp, "You have a point, so what if some of us stay here while the others leave?"

The long-nosed man spun towards Kaori and practically hissed as he glared at her, "I don't think splitting up is a good idea either!" He weakly laughed as he turned back to Luffy, "No, it'd be best if we all stayed put right here on this nice, fun beach. Right?"

Chopper was not convinced as he spoke up with a worried shout, "She's taking way too long for that!"

Usopp nearly sprinted to the young doctor and clapped his hand over his mouth. He was growling in frustration at this point, "Shut up! The reason Luffy's here in the first place is to prove he can go where he was told he can't go, not chase after Nami, stupid!"

Robin seemed unfazed by the sniper's outburst and almost sounded amused, "That's true."

I sighed in annoyance at Usopp's blatant cowardice, "Let's just go."

The long-nosed man turned his ire on me as he huffed, "Yeah, guys, Conis warned us about that, remember? If we go, we'll incur Eneru's wrath, then who knows how much trouble we'll be in?"

Chopper's brow furrowed as he frowned, "So... What now?"

"Our best bet is to wait here for Nami and try not to upset the White Berets," Usopp insisted. He straightened up and weakly smiled, "I mean, it's Nami we're talkin' about! She's gotta have a secret stash of a few trillion berries somewhere! She can pay up, and then we're outta here!"

Captain McKinley shouted at us from across the beach, sounding frustrated, "Alright, what are you all blabbing about over there?" I turned to cast him an irritated scowl, but he seemed to pay me no mind as he continued, "And where's your eighth crewmate? I only count seven! Do I need to add 'suspicion of fleeing the island' to your list of charges?"