Freedom & Fate | One Piece x Reader

Chapter 39 | Maps

Luffy made his flashy entrance and without a second of intermission, he targets the still confused Arlong with punches and kicks. But for a fishman, those attacks feel like mere pats on the back. A more serious fight breaks out, both trading hits back and forth. As soon as Arlong demonstrates new tricks and strategies to the battle, Luffy quickly adjusts and counters while showing off his strength in the process.

You moved out of the way, dragging yourself away from the field. While slowly crawling to the side, you winced and clutched your leg. The bullet-like water droplet shot out from Arlong should not be taken lightly. Even though you are not bleeding, the injury still gives you unbearable pain.

"Are you their little princess perhaps?"

Arlong's voice infiltrates your thoughts. You shake your head, not wanting his words to impact you. But still, you grunt as you ask yourself why you could not handle such a small bruise. Why your leg would not move on your demand.

You lean up against a wall, carefully stretching your leg out and observe the purple spot on your left thigh, steady and quick breaths leaving your mouth. When Zoro spots you from afar, he moves towards you despite the condition he is in. You could see the damage that was done on his body, a big wound under his bandages opened up and he was covered with bruises and cuts.

"How is your leg?" he asks concerned.

You keep you hollow gaze on his wound, wondering why he is even worried about your trivial injury. And as your thoughts go on, they spiral downwards. You think about Arlong's words again and how Zoro protected you multiple times.

"Y/N, can you hear me?" He shakes your shoulders. "Tell me if you are feeling unwell!"

Finally, you meet his eyes. "It hurts," you whisper. "And I'm angry that it hurts to the point where I can't move. I'm angry that you have to keep worrying about me." You try your hardest not to let your voice crack. Zoro squeezes your shoulders and opens his mouth but quickly shuts it again. With furrowed eyebrows, he ponders about the things he wants to tell you.

"Girls..." he hesitantly starts, "can be very fragile." Zoro holds onto your arms a little gentler. "Do you remember my childhood friend? I made the promise to her to become the strongest swordsman." You nod as you recall the story he told you on the little boat after he joined Luffy. "She was strong. Even stronger than adults at her age. I admired her because I aspired to surpass her." He closes his eyes and pauses for a while. "But even though she was strong, she passed away after falling down the stairs. I realised then how fragile girls can be."

You cover your mouth in shock. He never told you that detail of the story before.

"That is why I am trying to make sure that the person I care about is safe and sound," he says softly. "So you do not have to be angry at yourself."

You could feel your face heat up. Now you are glad that your hand is covering most of your face. As if Zoro could read your thoughts, he suddenly moves your hand away, revealing your tinted cheeks. Embarrassed, you try to move away but you freeze when you feel Zoro's comparatively cold hand cupped around your face. You gulp and see a smirk forming on his lips.

"This kind of makes me happy," he comments.

As you try to process what is happening at the moment, you almost miss the heavy footsteps coming your way. An angry blond cook swings his foot in the direction of Zoro's head, but he blocks it with his arms immediately.

"Oi! What are you doing?!"

"I should be the one asking that! How dare you touch a lady so casually!" Sanji shouts.

Before those two could break into a fight of their own, loud noises from the main building in Arlong Park distracted them. A desk crashes through the wall and after that massive amounts of paper are being tossed out and are now swirling through the air. One of them lands in your lap.

"A map," you mutter.

Seeing a drawn map like this, you instantly think of Nami. The way it is drawn, so carefully and detailed, you are sure that this is her work. You look up again, watching hundreds or thousands of hand drawn maps flutter down.

Did Nami draw all of these? Willingly or...

But the way Luffy seems to intentionally get rid of everything tells you the answer. Arlong must have been using her all this time as some kind of machine to produce accurate maps.

All of a sudden something else comes crashing out of the building. A leg stretches out of the ceiling, only possible if it was made out of elastic rubber. It retracts, sounds as loud as explosions ring through your ears and the whole building looks like it is going to collapse on itself.

"We have to get out of here," Zoro says as he picks you up and hurriedly carries you away.

"Wait! Luffy is still in there," you tell him but he already brought you out of the danger zone.

Worried, you stare at the caved-in building. Soon enough, you could see someone rising up from beneath the rubble. You smile in relief when you recognise him.

"LUFFY!" everyone around you screams excitedly. "Arlong Park has fallen!" The cheers are getting louder and louder. But the real celebration could not begin until the useless marines were beaten up and driven off of this island.

ஐ

While the villagers are preparing a feast for their saviours, Zoro and you are forced to make a trip to the doctor. You insisted that you could heal his wound easily but Zoro said that he should not get away with injuries this easily all the time.

"Otherwise I will never learn how to be careful."

You could not say anything back at his explanation. After the doctor gave you an ice pack, he props up your leg with a pillow and tells you to rest. He also tells you that you should eat foods rich in vitamin C to speed up the healing process. Already, you feel a lot better and try to get a shut eye but unfortunately, the treatment for Zoro is not as gentle as yours.

"Arghhh!" he could not help but grunt with gritted teeth.

Maybe I should've done it after all.

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