Eyes of a Hawk: Zoro x Reader

Chapter 11: Welcome Home

Reference in here, very very small, find it and I might offer a double reference prize.

The grand doors to the mansion opened and closed with a dull echo that didn’t seem to travel all that far. There you stood before them, just gazing about the mansion to find that not a thing had changed. Except maybe the dust, everything seemed to have a layer of dust from the guard rails of the staircase to the candlesticks hung in a line upon the walls of stone. Clearly nobody had picked up your job as the maid around the mansion since your depart twelve months back. Dare you say you felt missed.

“Hello,” you called out as your voice echoed for what felt to be miles before your voice drowned out. “Anybody home? I-I’m here,” the silence within the mansion was thick as if absolutely nothing occupied the space. You frowned expecting a warm welcome home, until you heard a flurry of footsteps that grew in intensity from the opposite end of one hallway.

“OMG (Y/n)!!!” Perona wailed, lurching from her spot to knock you off your feet. You were shocked to say the least as the girl hugged you dearly with tears in her ghostly eyes. “Don’t ever leave me alone with those gross boys ever again! It was torture! TORTURE!!!” You awed sitting up taking the girl with bubblegum pink hair with you to pout as she floated just inches from you.

“Sorry Perona,” you apologized. “Mihawk is quite self sufficient, so I hope Zoro wasn’t too much to handle.”

“Arg! He was so difficult!” Perona growled. “He couldn’t do anything on his own for the longest time! Treating his injuries, cooking, laundry, I did everything for him and omg I’m so annoyed it hurts!”

“I mean I was cooking the meals when I was here, but I think Zoro was taking advantage of you Love,” Perona gasped with her face turning crimson with anger.

“Don’t call me Love,” the girl tuts. “Goodbye,” and so she stomped away.

“Please tell me I wasn’t like that as a teenager,” you sigh.

“You weren’t thankfully,” you heard, recognizing that matter of fact tone from anywhere.

“Hey… Dad,” you couldn’t look at him in the eyes as so your eyes remained fixed upon his boots as he stepped towards you to stop justly at your side.

“Get off the floor,” he demands. “What are you, an animal?” Guilt washed over you immediately, he hasn’t even said hello or welcome home. Is he still mad with me?

“Okay…” You picked yourself up, brushing off your backside. Thick silence took place that it felt all so suffocating.

“You could’ve warned me that you were leaving, let alone for as long as you were,” Mihawk finally spoke up while crossing his arms. “You were gone for an entire year, not once did you write home, how was I supposed to know you were alive and well?”

“Sorry…” Your eyes remained fixed upon the floor. “Shanks offered me if I wanted to travel with him for a while, I felt that you wouldn’t allow me to go with him… So I left-”

“You’re an adult (Y/n),” Mihawk spoke over you catching you all by surprise. “You’re an adult, you’re old enough to make your own decisions and it’s not my business to keep you here,” You frantically looked up to your father with eyes large with shock. The corner of your father’s lips curled upwards into a shy smile. “I missed you dearly.”

“And all this time I thought you were mad with me,” you proceeded to hug your father, his arms loosely wrapped around your body as he returned it savoring the moment. You pulled back once you felt recollected and took another look around. “Dad, I thought Zoro would be eager to see me, in fact I expected Perona’s welcome home to come from him, where is he?” Mihawk hummed lightly.

“He completed his training quite recently, he sort of went his own way afterwards. It’s been quiet these last few weeks let me tell you,” Mihawk informed you with such a blank expression, it was almost hard to deny the truth. Mihawk had never really liked Zoro to begin with, of course he’s happy that Zoro is no longer with us.

“I came home early… Just for him,” you sighed making way for your bedroom. “I did leave right after we became an item… Maybe he took my absence as a rejection… Wow,” your heart stung accepting the fact that Zoro was long gone. Mihawk understood your pain but didn’t dare to acknowledge it, you were better off dealing with this loss on your own for the time being.

You trudged on up to your bedroom within the mansion, and no surprise, everything was the way it was twelve months ago. You dropped your bags in the doorway, unhooked your sword from your hip, and flopped down upon the bed to stare at the ceiling. Tears pricked the corners of your eyes, you clutched onto the bedsheets and silently wept.

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You awoke later within the day. So late, natural light didn’t illuminate the mansion with your bedroom pitch black besides two candles sittings upon candlesticks of sterling silver illuminating the small space by all so little. Your eyes still stung, face all puffy, your tears had stained the bed sheets from hours before. Your body still felt physically sick with overwhelming despair. But even through the despair came reason. If you were asleep for so long that it is now nightfall, who lit the candlesticks?

You tried to sit up, finding the task nearly impossible as there was a weight strapped to your chest keeping you down. An arm. “Welcome home Love… Now quit moving,” Zoro grumbled with drowsiness very notable within his voice. You were speechless to say the very least. You were told that Zoro had left and now he’s magically here sleeping at your backside with an arm keeping you firmly embraced to his chest.

“Damn you Zoro,” you managed to grab a pillow after countless attempts to steal it from under Zoro’s and your own head. Wiggling the piece of fluff free to hit him over the head, he didn’t really seem to care with eyes closed drifting off to slumber. “I was told you left! Did you make my dad lie to me?”

“I wasn’t even told you came home till maybe an hour ago…” Zoro huffed, sitting up and rubbed the drowsiness out of his eyes. You were soon to follow, however your eyes remained puffy from earlier with this stinging sensation you wished dearly to leave.

“That jerk,” you pout.

“Forget him,” Zoro yawned. “You’re back… That’s all that matters to me.”

You verbally awed at Zoro’s words, then playfully messed up Zoro’s head of green. “And here I thought we’d drift apart.”

“If I can wait two years to reunite with my crew, I can wait a year for you,” you awed again, Zoro smacked you in the face with the pillow all so suddenly. “Now that’s payback for waking me up,” he snickered much to his delight.

“Guess I deserved that,” you shrugged, putting your hair back into place.

“You can tell me about your year with Shanks while heading back to sleep,” Zoro pats the bed, welcoming you to lay down with his once again. There was no sense in fighting it, you both were tired and missed each other very much, now was a better time than ever to catch up. And so you lied down, Zoro slung his arm over you, pulling you snug into his chest by your waist and breathed softly into the crook of your neck. Drowsiness overcame you almost immediately, you used every fiber of energy you had left to fight this feeling.

“I picked up the sword again… I’ve actually learned how to use a sword single handed with Shanks having one arm and all… Not like you really care Mr. Three Sword Style…” Zoro chuckled into your hair at that last comment.

“I care… You’re interested in Swordsmanship again, you gave that interest up once you became Mihawk’s sword full time,” you were speechless once again, you didn’t expect Zoro to remember such a fact from so long ago.

“I picked it up again because of you,” you grinned. “Your love and dedication to your swords really speaks to me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah…” You yawned softly. “I can now use Conqueror's Haki much better than before… I think you were a big help with that… To be honest my year away from here was dedicated to making myself stronger much like you were. I want to become my own person, not an item… Not many people has seen me as a human, and you’re one of them"