Ameliorate ✦ One Piece

41

"Where are they?" Nami's question was posed in an exasperated tone, not quite expecting an answer as Usopp had been with her the whole time so he knew just as much as she did. And the only thing she did know was they should have set a meeting time by which everyone needed to be back. She regretted not doing it now as she stood back at the gate, hands full of shopping bags and no crew members in sight.

"Zoro!" Usopp's loud call though brought some hope as she turned on her heel, looking in the direction the sharpshooter seemed to be waving to get Zoro's attention and keep him from going off in the direction leading away from them any further. "Oh, you got the swords." The additions to the swordsman's belt were easily spotted as he started to approach them.

"Here's your money." The first thing Zoro did was hand Nami back all the bills she'd given him earlier in the day. And it made her eyes widen in surprise, fingers flipping through them to make sure it was right before sending him a questioning look. "I didn't need it."

"You didn't kill anyone for those, did you?" She couldn't help the first thought that came to her mind.

"No," Zoro said, looking rather proud of himself. "I haggled."

"Okay..." Nami still wasn't buying it all that much, but it didn't matter. Not when she earned money either way. "Well, you still owe me interest." The announcement was an easy way to wipe the smirk off of Zoro's face as he balked at her in shock.

"Those look like really nice swords..." Usopp, unlike her, wasn't having as easy a time letting go of the previous topic. "And someone just gave them to you?"

"Yeah," Zoro said, turning his body to the side to show off the two new blades, hand seemingly permanently attached to their hilts. "Pretty much."

"Suspicious."

"Yeah, I'd have an easier time believing the story if someone credible backed it up," Nami agreed with Usopp's doubt, sending Zoro a questioning look before her eyes glanced around the streets again in search of another familiar face. "Where's Akira?"

"She went to the bookshop," Zoro said. "Wasn't there by the time I was done."

"You lost her?" Usopp questioned. Although, Zoro losing Akira wasn't all that surprising. Akira losing him was.

"I didn't lose her," the swordsman was quick to defend himself. "I just... haven't seen her yet." However, his defence wasn't much of solid one in the end.

"Okay, look, there's a storm coming. A big one," Nami said, the urgency in her voice accentuating the fact that they were starting to run out of time. "We need to find her and the others and get back to the Merry."

Just as the three of them began to look around again, searching for any sign of their crewmates after her insistent words, the sound of approaching footsteps had them all turning to the side where one could be spotted approaching with ease.

"Sanji!" Nami exclaimed, relieved to see another one of them coming back. "You get everything you needed?"

"Yes, I had everything sent to the Merry. Except," his voice now strained as he shifted what seemed to be some kind of enormous fish with an elephant's trunk in his hands to show it off to the group. "This beauty." He smiled wide. "She is not leaving my sight."

"Where's Luffy?" Zoro asked, showing little care for the fish.

For a moment, Sanji looked around the group as if he'd been expecting to see their captain already standing among them. "I thought he would have come back already." Though, that would have made the question rather pointless.

"You lost him?" Nami questioned in an accusatory tone, annoyed at the way this seemed to be a reoccurring thing. No one was surprised Zoro lost Akira. In that pairing she was the one meant to be looking after him. Something that Sanji was responsible for with Luffy in their own match.