Book One: Treasure of the Heart (Zoro X OC)

Chapter One Hundred Twelve ~ Halfway Point

~Third~

It was another beautiful day as the Sunny and her crew were sailing along, Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Brook were trying to catch fish, Zoro and Nicole were napping leaning on a tree while the rest were having tea "Nami, are we there yet? I wanna be on fishman island right now" Luffy whined.

"Could you shut up for five minutes? We're getting closer that good enough okay?!"Nami said, Sanji got all excited about mermaids "Screw catching food! I just wanna eat it! Sanji! Food!"Luffy yelled throwing his fishing pole away in frustration.

"Hey look! There's a big school of fish down there we finally hit the jackpot"Usopp said "Yohoho as they say good things come to those who wait"Brook said and Luffy rejoined them in fishing "Whoa they're headed straight for us!"he said but the school of fish went right past them.

"That looks bad"Zoro said noticing the clouds waking up with Nicole "It's a sea snake current, brace yourselves"Nami called as the sky grew dark and currents rose from the water slithering around like snakes, the currents started attacking them but Zoro and Franky handled it.

"Zoro you shouldn't push yourself like that"Nicole said coming over to his side after he had cut one of the currents, Zoro caught his breath before turning to her "I'm fine"he said before yelling at Sanji, more of the currents started attacking but the crew handled them.

"How are we gonna get out of this mess?"Chopper asked clinging onto the mast "Think we can fly out of here with a coup de burst?"Franky asked "It won't work, i can't see an end to these currents, we're stuck here"Nami said "No! Why?!"Chopper cried.

"Yohoho shall i play a song for everyone? In times like these you must remember that no matter how terrible the storm it will eventually pass so i'll play some music to see us through and you can sing along"Brook said "Sounds good Brook let's do it!"Luffy cheered but before Brook could do it before a current appeared under the Sunny shaking the ship around and sending them flying.

"Hey look"Nami said spotting something through the clouds, the Red Line, they had reached the halfway point, Nicole smiled it only felt like yesterday when they were crossing Reverse Mountain and though she has seen this end of the Grand Line many times she had never crossed into the New World.

A giant current appeared in front them but they managed to ride the current just like they did the Knock Up stream, they pulled in the sails and the Sunny took off flying with a coup de burst, the ship landed outside the storm and they reached the Red Line "I can't see the top, it's huge!" Chopper said.

"It's strange i feel sorta nostalgic, i'm getting a bit chocked up"Nami said "Hasn't been that long since we last saw this but i feel like we've grown up"Zoro said, Nicole hummed nodding in agreement "I can't seem to stop crying"Usopp said crying.

Luffy chuckled "Anyway we're halfway there, Twin Capes where met Laboon are connected to the Red Line on the other side of the world, we had some close calls but i'm glad we made it this far without losing anybody"he said.

"If we keep this up and sail around the world we'll come around to see this one more time and when we do then i'm gonna be King of the Pirates"Luffy grinned chuckling a bit "We have to be extra careful from here on out we're right next to the holy land Mary Geoise along with navy headquarters and the world government"Nami said.

"Nah we got nothing to worry about, those pompous asses up there are busy with their own things"Nicole said, going with Zoro and watching him train, yet she couldn't help feeling this deep sense of dread like something bad was going to happen, it formed a pit in her stomach and her throat clench as she felt an unease bubbling up, she clenched her jaw taking a deep breath as she covered her mouth.

Zoro noticed and went over to her "You okay there? You look pale"he asked "I'm fine, just"Nicole sighed rubbing her head feeling a pounding headache "I feel like something really bad is going to happen"she said "You still look like you're gonna throw up, you should have Chopper take a look"Zoro said "Nah let him have his fun, i'll be fine"Nicole smiled reassuringly but Zoro was still concerned.

"Really i'm fine, tell you what if, i do actually throw up i'll go to Chopper asap"Nicole smiled grabbing his hand smiling at him, Zoro sighed and leaned over kissing her forehead "Alright"he said and went back to training, Nicole started to doze of as she continued to watch him and eventually fell asleep, Zoro glanced at her, lately she's seemed more tired too however he pushed his concern aside and continued training.

~skip~

After her nap Nicole felt much better and jumped down from the crows nest with Zoro "Hey Zoro, hey Nicole"Luffy greeted them "I noticed the Sunny setting off so we finally found a way to fish man island?"Zoro asked "Forget that it's a real life mermaid her name's Kamie isn't she cool?"Luffy grinned "Nice to meet you"Kamie greeted with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too"Nicole smiled back at her "A mermaid huh?"Zoro asked and erased the memory of Kokoro "Never seen one before"he said, Nicole giggled a bit "She has a friend that makes real good takoyaki so we're gonna save him first so we can eat"Luffy said "Oh? I could go for some takoyaki"Nicole said feeling an inexplicable craving.

"I'm kinda worried, Hatchin didn't sound like himself at all when we talked i'm afraid they've done something awful to him"Kamie said "He's tough enough to cope i wouldn't worry about it, you guys on the other hand were awful quick to offer your help but are you positive you're not in over your head on this?"Pappagu the starfish asked.

Luffy grinned "You kidding?"he asked "Alright but fair warning these guys aren't the only kidnappers in the area, there's a whole bunch of crews just like 'em, the Sabaody Archipelago is a hot spot for kidnapping, human trafficking is big business around here"Pappagu said "You mean like slave trading or something? Pretty sick stuff"Sanji said.

'You don't even know the half of it' Nicole thought glaring off into the distance "Seeing as mermaid fetch such a high price on the market a trio of fishmen that call themselves the Macro Gang have been targeting Kamie for a long time, we were stuck in that sea monsters belly for a while, Hatchi probably got worried about us and figured the Marco Gang kidnapped you or something then he went after them to rescue you and got kidnapped himself"Pappagu said.

"Yeah that must be it, Hatchin's always so kind and he's always looking after me this is all my fault"Kamie said as Zoro and Nicole took a seat on the stairs "Guy's named Hatchin huh? Reminds me of that dumbass octopus from way back"Zoro said "Yeah"Nicole nodded in agreement.

"If it's that guy there's no way i'm helping him but what are the odds right?"Sanji asked "Usually Hatchi can take those guys or anybody else for that matter but with the Flying Fish Riders involved it's a whole different story"Pappagu said "Okay but who are these guys?"Franky asked.

"They're another one of those kidnapping crews i mentioned, they've really been running the place lately word is once they target you you're as good as done for, their boss Duval is a scary guy with an iron mask, nobody knows what his face looks like, anyway it seems like their looking for someone, they've been stopping every ship that comes by here and checking out their crews member by member"Pappagu said.

"Nah how tough they can be? It's fine, don't worry Kamie well get the takoyaki back for sure" Luffy said "I'm sure you're right Luffy-chin"Kamie said "Of course i'm right, hey Brook why don't you play a song to lighten the mood?"Luffy asked "Yohoho with pleasure captain"Brook said and started playing a tune on his violin.

Nicole relaxed as she leaned on Zoro listening to the tune, right, there's nothing to worry about, she's just been winded up cause they're close to Sabaody, that place doesn't have the best memories for her, well parts of it at least, like that human shop, she shook her head out of it before dwelling on those memories too much, she didn't like thinking about it anyway.

"Hey guys we're in trouble!"Usopp called as the fish scattered "Did something happen?"Nami asked "The fish said they're sorry but they can't take us any further they're scared"Kamie said "What someone's here?"Luffy asked "Look it's the Flying Fish Riders!"Pappagu said as they came flying in from above.

"Wow they really can fly"Usopp said "That's awesome!"Luffy said sparkles in his eyes "They are our enemy!"Zoro yelled at him, the group came flying around again dropping bombshells but Luffy and Nicole dealt with them "That was a close one"Usopp said "They're not finished once they're out of the water the flying fish can stay in the air for up to five minutes"Kamie said but the flying fish flew off.