#thegreatestswordsman-zoro

[strawhatluffy01]

"What kind of future pirate king passes out after a couple of drinks?" Zoro pauses, gaze sliding over to Luffy's dipped shoulders, "Oi, Luffy--"

@thegreatestswordsman-zoro

He was moving, or rather someone was moving him, shaking, causing him to blink half-lidded at the wood he currently had his cheek squished against. It was cool and sturdy. Really strong too, seeing as it managed to keep his heavy head in place, which felt two sizes too big without him actually having activated his Gum-Gum Balloon. Zoro's words wafted into his ears, low and accusatory, earning an amused snort, followed by a hiccup.

"Naaah uh...."

He pressed further into the wood and away from his crewmate's calloused digits, body warm and tingly like taffy that's been left out in the sun too long; utterly uncaring of the all-out brawl that kicked off in the opposite corner.

"M not drunk......I don't drink like Zoro does...." 

@thegreatestswordsman-zoro

[tangerine-tales]

"So you're telling me I won't get my allowance this week because Luffy finished all the food supply?" Cue narrowed hues. "Why not take it out of that damned cook's allowance instead? Tch."

@thegreatestswordsman-zoro

Zoro’s words barely registered as Nami savored another spoonful of her tangerine sorbet. The creamy, tangy perfection was like a little slice of heaven, and she let out a blissful sigh, her shoulders practically melting. Sanji had truly outdone himself this time. Was it a bribe? Maybe. Did he predict Zoro would grumble about allowances? Possibly.

But honestly? She didn’t care. This was her moment. And no grumpy swordsman was going to ruin it.

Another spoonful disappeared, her eyes practically starry with delight. But then, just as she was about to scoop up more—she caught a flash of green in her peripheral vision.

Oh. Right. Zoro was still there. No fair.

“Sanji’s allowance feeds us all. Yours just keeps you drunk. So, yeah, your sacrifice makes way more sense,” she said sweetly, not even glancing his way.

She paused, letting her words sink in before adding casually, “Oh, and speaking of money—what about the 2,000 beli in interest you still owe me?”

[strawhatluffy01]

The jab at his chest was enough to pull Luffy from his visualizations of flying drumsticks, his arm rising to briskly wipe at the edges of his mouth.

"Huh. Apologize to food, as if Nami, that would be dumb."

It was one thing to apologize to her, since she did entrust them with safeguarding the gaudy-looking chest, and they did kind of fail at that, badly, but the Jura Raptors hardly deserved the same consideration. It was almost like Nami didn't listen to his retelling of the incident at all. How could it be his fault if the birds were the ones who high-jacked the treasure the Straw Hats stole first? If anything, they were the ones in the wrong and had to say sorry to the crew-

-then jump right into Sanji's pot so he could kook 'em good.

A palm bent down to pat at his stomach who was in agreement, totally ignorant of the red-head's dangerous aura, or the tick pulsing along her forehead. When Zoro's sleepy baritone added his two scents from where he lay propped up in the hallway, Luffy paused, then straightened from his slump with a laugh. "Oh....Yeah! Shihi! Good thinking Zoro!" His palm left his stomach to knock against the surface of the table instead, causing Nami's ink pots to shudder and quake dangerously. "It's been days, the log post had to pick out a good island by now! How much longer Nami! Are we close yet?"

@tangerine-tales @thegreatestswordsman-zoro

tangerine-tales:

"Luffy, for the last time, we cannot afford to buy meat right now—because SOMEONE thought it was a great idea to lose all our treasure on the last island! Care to explain how you managed to do that, Captain?"

Black eyes blinked at the navigator, once, twice; fully expecting her to just give in and add the extra supplies to their list like he wanted her to. When the wrinkles between her brows didn’t even out into acceptance, no matter how long he stared, he grumbled (or maybe it was just the pitiful wallow of his empty stomach) lip jutting out.

“But, Nami! I said I was sorry!”

If only it wasn’t so typical of her to still be mad over something that happened days ago- mad and stingy. Even now when it felt like his body was drying up and turning into a sea-sponge. “I’m starving. Why can’t you just buy it for me?” She always had Beli after all and used it for things that she already had lots of, like clothes and books. Maybe she could put it on that Zoro’s tab? Since it was the swordsman that suggested they take the detour that got them ambushed by the Jura. Those stupid birds were larger than some Sea-Kings and liked to hoard treasures and sun-bleached bones like dragons. At the thought of the giant birds, his eyes glazed over temporarily, his salivary glands causing spittle to generate at the corners of his mouth. Man, he bet they would have been really, really tasty. “This sucks. We should have stayed and punched them.”

[tangerine-tales]

Zoro’s interruption was the last straw. Oh, sure, his lazy suggestion to 'just deal with it' sounded fine in theory—until you remembered WHO exactly had suggested the detour that led to their current broke-and-bird-traumatized situation. The memory of Luffy’s very loud retelling of the whole debacle played in her mind like a horror story.

Of course, having Luffy as captain meant no secrets could exist on this ship. The idiot had recounted every humiliating detail of their misadventure the moment they’d returned: how he’d tried (and failed spectacularly) to beat those oversized, gaudy feather-dusters into submission. The result? No treasure, no supplies, and no ounce of sanity left for Nami.

The image of their once-glorious, glittering gold—her gold—now sitting in some stupid overgrown pigeon nest, brough waterfalls of tears streaming down her face. She clutched at her chest as if the betrayal had physically wounded her, the sound of shattering dreams echoing in her mind. She deserved that treasure—needed it, even—after all she put up with on this ship! How was it fair that the universe kept cheating her out of the life of luxury she DESERVED?

Luffy’s obnoxiously cheerful voice snapped her out of her spiraling despair just in time to see his hand slam down on the table, sending her ink pots into a precarious wobble. It was like watching her patience teeter on the edge of the abyss.

The tears vanished in an instant, replaced by flames of pure, unfiltered RAGE.

Her fist landed squarely on Luffy’s head with enough force to shut him up mid-laugh, the other immediately finding its mark on Zoro, who didn’t even bother opening his eyes. TYPICAL.

“We’re at least five days away! FIVE! And guess what, Luffy? Your whining isn’t going to make us get there any faster!” Her voice dripped with venom as she turned her glare to Zoro’s SOMEHOW still-snoring form. “And you! How about you stop napping and figure out how to replace the treasure you conveniently forgot to protect, huh?”

@strawhatluffy01 @thegreatestswordsman-zoro

tangerine-tales:

"Luffy, for the last time, we cannot afford to buy meat right now—because SOMEONE thought it was a great idea to lose all our treasure on the last island! Care to explain how you managed to do that, Captain?"

Black eyes blinked at the navigator, once, twice; fully expecting her to just give in and add the extra supplies to their list like he wanted her to. When the wrinkles between her brows didn’t even out into acceptance, no matter how long he stared, he grumbled (or maybe it was just the pitiful wallow of his empty stomach) lip jutting out.

“But, Nami! I said I was sorry!”

If only it wasn’t so typical of her to still be mad over something that happened days ago- mad and stingy. Even now when it felt like his body was drying up and turning into a sea-sponge. “I’m starving. Why can’t you just buy it for me?” She always had Beli after all and used it for things that she already had lots of, like clothes and books. Maybe she could put it on that Zoro’s tab? Since it was the swordsman that suggested they take the detour that got them ambushed by the Jura. Those stupid birds were larger than some Sea-Kings and liked to hoard treasures and sun-bleached bones like dragons. At the thought of the giant birds, his eyes glazed over temporarily, his salivary glands causing spittle to generate at the corners of his mouth. Man, he bet they would have been really, really tasty. “This sucks. We should have stayed and punched them.”

[strawhatluffy01]

Luffy did not expect his chin hitting the table, the top of his head throbbing where it made contact with the navigator's knuckles. He slumped back in his seat, barely resisting the urge to thumb at the new bump with a wince. Nami definitely had divine conqueror's haki, that one...../hurt/. "Ngggh... Don't worry Nami.." A hesitant grin inched back into place, the heat pulsing from his temple deemed unimportant. "We'll get you a new treasure and it will be even bigger than the last one!" Like Zoro said, they were pirates, so they were bound to come across some valuables sooner rather than later. Losing the chest really wasn't a big deal. The real bummer was that they were five days out from land.

Five.

Finding a treasure that would fill their navigator's coffers would require some serious fuel in the tank and he was already running on reserves. He didn't know if he could last that long. The reverie caused his stomach to emit another sad rumble, but they were saved from acknowledging the sound, as the swordsman's gaze fixed on the horizon. Not needing any further prodding, Luffy leapt from his seat to peer out of the cabin, following Zoro's gaze. "Huh. I see it! It looks like it good be really big!"

He continued to squint at the speck, features scrunching against the glare of the sun. Was that a Sea Dog? Sea Rabbit? "Lets go closer!"

@tangerine-tales @thegreatestswordsman-zoro

tangerine-tales:

"Luffy, for the last time, we cannot afford to buy meat right now—because SOMEONE thought it was a great idea to lose all our treasure on the last island! Care to explain how you managed to do that, Captain?"

Black eyes blinked at the navigator, once, twice; fully expecting her to just give in and add the extra supplies to their list like he wanted her to. When the wrinkles between her brows didn’t even out into acceptance, no matter how long he stared, he grumbled (or maybe it was just the pitiful wallow of his empty stomach) lip jutting out.

“But, Nami! I said I was sorry!”

If only it wasn’t so typical of her to still be mad over something that happened days ago- mad and stingy. Even now when it felt like his body was drying up and turning into a sea-sponge. “I’m starving. Why can’t you just buy it for me?” She always had Beli after all and used it for things that she already had lots of, like clothes and books. Maybe she could put it on that Zoro’s tab? Since it was the swordsman that suggested they take the detour that got them ambushed by the Jura. Those stupid birds were larger than some Sea-Kings and liked to hoard treasures and sun-bleached bones like dragons. At the thought of the giant birds, his eyes glazed over temporarily, his salivary glands causing spittle to generate at the corners of his mouth. Man, he bet they would have been really, really tasty. “This sucks. We should have stayed and punched them.”

[tangerine-tales]

Turning back? For what—those filthy, oversized pigeons who dared to go for her hair?! Absolutely not. The thought alone made her skin crawl.

But the treasure…

Oh, the glistening, glorious treasure. What a cruel, cruel world that forced her to choose between her dignity and her riches.

Settling for glaring daggers at her idiotic crewmates, she gave herself a moment of vindication. Perfectly justified, obviously. She was mourning here!

Her righteous inner monologue was interrupted by Zoro’s grumbling. Her eyes followed his gaze, squinting toward the horizon. There was something out there—a shadow, growing larger with every second.

“Is it getting… bigger?” she muttered, her gut already twisting into knots.

Before she could say another word, Luffy’s voice boomed, full of reckless glee. GET CLOSER?

She froze. Of course, of course he wanted to go closer. Why wouldn’t he? This was Luffy, after all—the man who had zero survival instincts and even less common sense. Of course, he wanted to charge headfirst into doom.

“No, no, NO!” she yelled, throwing her arms into the air. “We need to get AWAY from that!”

But her words were pointless. Someone (most likely that stupid Zoro) had already started turning the ship in the shadow’s direction. Nami’s face twitched as a fresh wave of despair washed over her.

The next thing she knew, she had Luffy by the collar, shaking him violently, tears streaming down her face in waterfalls. “WHY, LUFFY?! WHY DO WE ALWAYS RUN STRAIGHT INTO DANGER?!”

She could already picture her obituary: Gone too soon, tragically young, undeniably gorgeous, and horrendously broke.

@thegreatestswordsman-zoro & @strawhatluffy01

tangerine-tales:

"Luffy, for the last time, we cannot afford to buy meat right now—because SOMEONE thought it was a great idea to lose all our treasure on the last island! Care to explain how you managed to do that, Captain?"

Black eyes blinked at the navigator, once, twice; fully expecting her to just give in and add the extra supplies to their list like he wanted her to. When the wrinkles between her brows didn’t even out into acceptance, no matter how long he stared, he grumbled (or maybe it was just the pitiful wallow of his empty stomach) lip jutting out.

“But, Nami! I said I was sorry!”

If only it wasn’t so typical of her to still be mad over something that happened days ago- mad and stingy. Even now when it felt like his body was drying up and turning into a sea-sponge. “I’m starving. Why can’t you just buy it for me?” She always had Beli after all and used it for things that she already had lots of, like clothes and books. Maybe she could put it on that Zoro’s tab? Since it was the swordsman that suggested they take the detour that got them ambushed by the Jura. Those stupid birds were larger than some Sea-Kings and liked to hoard treasures and sun-bleached bones like dragons. At the thought of the giant birds, his eyes glazed over temporarily, his salivary glands causing spittle to generate at the corners of his mouth. Man, he bet they would have been really, really tasty. “This sucks. We should have stayed and punched them.”