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Steel in Her Veins, Chapter: Forty-One

Read On: AO3 | Table of Contents | Next Chapter

Characters: Fem!Reader x Roronoa Zoro

Notes: I've been collecting one piece cards and NOW I'M SO BROKE. WHAT HAVE I DONE.... ADULT MONEY IS A CURSE AND A BLESSING.

Chapter Forty-One: Odenta

The wind around us feels morose, empty – sickly humid, at best. It gasps, and like a withered mouth, it unhinges its jaw and releases its last pungent breath against my skin. Uncomfortably, I shift around on the floor.

My ear, trying to muster out anything within those four cold walls - any noise, or discussion, or if I must settle, a groan - is glued against the sealed door. I shift again on the floor, pressing the side of my face harder into the wooden panel. But there’s nothing. Only the steady beep of a monitor rings within that shrouded space, one that leaves my breath constantly lodged tightly within my throat.

Around my curled form, I’m levelled with a mountain of filthy boots that shift every so often and accidentally kick me in the knees; those very boots, donned by the Hearts pirates, grind anxiously into the wooden floor. Every single eye trains on the door in front them as if staring at it enough will roast it down into smithereens.

I’ve never seen Chopper and Law act like this before— their faces pale, their eyes hesitant, yet still, they try to keep it together for the sake of each respective crew. It was an instant switch, seeing them turn from acting like horrified pirates into a state of emotionally repressed doctors.

I shift again as I feel another boot knock against my knees. In a biting growl, I hear Zoro make an incoherent demand at someone, and instantly, the boot shakingly disappears from my sight.

Law… I breathe out sharply, hearing a soft voice through the door that must belong to him.

I squeeze my eyes shut, wondering how he must feel right now, because frankly, I never really knew how much Bepo meant to him until now.

Sure, Law’d be snapping demands at Bepo with a certain air of ‘Oh, Captain—’ yet there were still those overseen moments that told me Bepo was more than just a member on his ship. He’d throw in a fat salmon - Bepo’s favourite – across his plate, or tie up the furry bear’s boots into two neat little knots when he thought no one else was watching. No questions asked, no fuss necessary, and definitely no gratitude to be made.

But this is different. I saw Law’s eyes bulging out with panic, his face draining into a cusp of what he was supposed to stand for to his crew– a strong captain, a protector, untouchable and present. All of that instantly shattered the moment he saw Bepo’s limp body slackening on the floor, thick, black ink wetting and slithering in choking curls through his fur.

Before I can shift again on the floor, I feel a large hand rest on my head.

I gasp, jolting upward to instantly meet Zoro’s gaze. His fingers softly dig further into my hair, trailing down from the top of my crown to the ends of my locks. I watch a dark brown strand begin to weave through his knuckles, his rough fingers deftly twirling through them, as he watches me with… is that worry?

“He’ll be fine,” Zoro says, his voice steady, but I have a feeling he’s trying to convince himself more than anything. I breathe in sharply and nod, noticing how he becomes suddenly so invested with my hair. His fingers run through my scalp with small yet precise pressured movements, and I can’t help but release the tension in my body, thinking, maybe all of this will be okay. But that moment of peace shatters in a second.

Inside the cabin, I hear a muffled thud, followed by a string of hurried words from Chopper. I can't make out what he's saying, but the urgency in his voice is clear. I close my eyes, forcing myself to breathe, to not let my mind spiral into some dark territory.

Suddenly, there’s a loud crash from inside, followed by a shout—Law's voice, sharp and commanding. My eyes snap open, and I feel Zoro’s hand tighten over my hair, slightly tugging me backward to keep me out of the door’s way.

Then, silence. A long, suffocating silence that stretches on for what feels like eternity. Every second drags by, heavy and slow, until finally, the door creaks open just a crack. Chopper's small, resolute form appears, his face smeared with sweat. His eyes are wide and frantic, but there’s no sign of death on his face.

“He’s… stable, for now,” Chopper mumbles, his voice barely audible but enough to send a wave of relief washing over us. The silence shatters, and everyone lets out a breath they didn’t realise they were still holding, their shoulders sagging with the collective weight of it all.

Law appears behind Chopper, his expression hardened, but his eyes give him away. There’s a haunted look in them, a hollowness no one here has ever seen before. His inked hands are steady, his voice firm as he gives orders to the crew, but I can see the way his gaze keeps drifting back to Bepo in the dark corner, still lying unconscious in the cabin, clinging to life.

“Law?” I murmur. “Is he okay?”

Law turns to me. Holds in a breath, exhales it out sharply. “Whatever that thing was, some of its residue is clinging to Bepo's foot and won't let go. He’s growing weaker by the minute.”

“Fuck,” Usopp breathes out.

Usopp’s voice startles Law, snapping him to the realisation that everyone’s watching, their eyes baring witness his sudden decrepit form. Lowering his gaze to the floor, Law clears his throat.

“Look, I appreciate you all being here to support, but we need some space to figure all of this shit out.”

I need some space, he really means.

“We’ll give out more updates soon, but in the meantime…” Law’s gaze pierces mine with an intense meaning behind his eyes. He wants blood, he wants justice for what the creature did to Bepo. “It’d be helpful if we knew where we’re actually going.”

I nod quickly, trying to shake off the lingering fear. “I’ll figure it out. Just give me a few days to find the destination.”

Law nods curtly, his eyes already shifting back toward the medical cabin. He doesn’t need to say more; his focus is entirely on Bepo now, and the urgency is palpable.

I turn away, silently indicating at our tethered shackle to Zoro so we can move. He gives a terse nod as we both fall into a steady pace.

Fuck. I know that no room for doubt or hesitation—we need to act fast, and I need to find answers, but there’s also a lot riding on my dumb guess on asking a fucking sword for coordinates.

As Zoro and I make our way across the deck, I can feel the following eyes of the crew, their collective thoughts weighing on me like the size of bloody Aragnus. I pass by Nami, who’s standing near the helm, her knuckles white as she grips the railing. She looks at me, her eyes questioning.

“We should keep the ship moving,” I suggest, trying to keep my voice steady. “No headings yet, but I may have a lead.”

“Go on.”

I hesitate, glancing at Zoro, who gives me a tiny upward twitch to his lips. “There’s a chance—just a chance—that I can gauge out some information from my blade.”

“Your sword?” she slowly enunciates.

I lean closer to her, my voice lowering slightly. “If I’m able to talk to Zoro’s Ichimonji and Law’s Kikoku, I think this might be worth a shot, too. It’s… hard to explain, but it’s possible.”

Nami purses her lips, her eyes narrowing in a conflict between scepticism and interest. A beat passes before she opens her mouth again. “I’ll keep the ship moving. We might have to stop somewhere in between for some supplies, but you need a lot more than that for us to go in the right direction.”

“If this becomes a shitshow, it’s on me,” I softly murmur.

Although her face softens at my claim, Nami offers a brief nod and turns back to the helm, her focus shifting to Aragnus who’s flying above, keeping an eye out for any incoming threats.

“Alright.” I take a deep breath, my fingers gripping onto the Kozuki coin in my pocket.

“Back to work?” Zoro asks beside me. I give him a terse nod, pacing towards the crow’s nest with a hard-set mission.

When we arrive, I whistle lowly, taking in all of the dust and debris that thickly rests on our equipment. Our two separate worlds meet in half once again, remaining all too strangely familiar in the emptiness of our disuse.

“Well, then. How long’s it been since we were in here?” I mutter.

Zoro hums as he looks around. “I hate how it feels so…still.”

Although he says that, I can see his shoulders loosen up as he meets with familiar surroundings. A tiny smile twitches on my mouth, noticing him being much calmer being up here than on the deck, but I don’t dare bring it up. I know I’m feeling the same way.

I peer past the dust that wafts from Zoro’s weights, my eyes lingering on my favourite partition of the crow’s nest: the workshop, with its furnace still burning in the back and the light dim enough to sleep in. Gleaming blades are hung on every spare part of the wall, decorated almost reverently in the midst of my wake. My black bean bags are still there, thrown in a messy corner with a patterned carpet lying underneath – my place of respite, when I didn’t want to leave my workshop, when I was too hyper fixated on my work.

My heart burns as I take it all in; it smells of my grandfather, it feels like him.

“Let’s keep moving,” I bite out, pushing back against my headstrong thoughts.

We silently trudge past Zoro’s training room to my workshop, and I notice the way his eye lingers on his training equipment as if he’s salivating for its touch. I snort lowly to myself, making the chain between us clank from the movement, but Zoro’s too busy in his own head to notice.

“I'd be lying if I said I know what to do,” I murmur.

“That sounds really promising, Raya.”

“I know, look at me. Full of promise.”

With a tired sigh, I slump into a chair in front of my bench and clear the table from any strewn tools and pieces of discarded metal that rests abandoned. Zoro leans against the bench, facing me, a hard look set on his face as he quietly observes what I’m doing.

I look up to him and purse my lips apprehensively. He looks down at me questioningly.

Surprisingly, he cracks a little smile. “Having second thoughts?” he asks mockingly. A little grin grows on my face as I realise, this little shit is trying to rile me up.

I scoff and pointedly flip my hair at him. “What do you take me for?”

I slam the Kozuki coin on the centre of the table. It glints under the dim light of the room, so smooth and golden it looks like it’s melting into a little magical puddle.

And then, silence. I stare at the coin with ultimate concentration, burning lasers into it with my eyes. Nothing happens.

“Aren’t you supposed to do something with it?” Zoro mutters, trying to hide his growing smile. I blink at him before a wave of embarrassment washes over me.

“Um… yeah,” I say, internally wanting to set myself on fire. I don’t know if it’s the stress or the lack of sleep I had last night, but I’m feeling positively thick-headed today.

“Did you hit your head somewhere I didn’t realise?” Zoro mockingly prods again, looking down at me. I scowl and push down my embarrassment away as I snatch the coin from the table.

"No, I didn’t hit my head. I’m just not used to performing magic tricks for an audience," I snap, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “Now shush, I’m concentrating.”

I take a deep breath, trying to block him out and refocus on the task at hand. My fingers curl around the coin, feeling the cool metal press into my palm. The emblem of a star etched so finely across the engraved helmet winks tauntingly at me, glinting majestically as if it knows something I don’t. I grit my teeth at that. And then I flip it into the air.

As the coin twists in the air, its smooth, golden surface catches the dim light, casting flickering reflections across the room. For a moment, everything seems to slow down. The coin spins in a lazy arc, its path almost mesmerising, as if the metal itself has a mind of its own.

Then, something incredible happens.

The coin starts to change mid-air, almost as if it’s alive. The golden disc stretches, elongating and twisting as if an invisible force is moulding it like clay. It ripples with a strange fluidity, defying the laws of nature, as if it’s liquid one second and solid the next. The room seems to hum with a low, vibrating energy, and I can feel it in my bones—a raw, ancient power that sends a chill down my spine.

Zoro straightens, his eyes narrowing in focus. He watches with the intensity of a hawk, his body tensing as he instinctively reaches for the handle of his sword, unsure of what might happen next.

The coin stretches even further, the golden metal shimmering as it morphs and elongates, forming a hilt, a guard, and a blade. The transformation is both fluid and jagged, a series of sharp, precise movements that seem almost choreographed. It’s like watching a dance of molten metal, each twist and turn shaping it into something new.

In seconds, the coin has transformed completely. What was once a small, innocuous piece of metal now stands before us as a longsword.

“Alakazam,” I dryly say.

Zoro wolfishly grins at me and nudges me with his arm. “Idiot.”

Alright, I think to myself. One obstacle gone; on to the next.

I close my eyes, squeezing them hard. Think, Raya, how do I connect to a sword’s voice?

First, I grab a blade between my fingers, and then I try to feel a certain type of frequency within its steel. That’s easy. That’s fine. I can do that.

Second, I close my eyes, focus on standing in a blank box, and a string of colour linked to the metal usually ribbons past my vision, moving to the voice of the sword. Okay… A little harder, but not unmanageable.

And then… I swallow slightly. That’s when things get fickle. Voices can come either quickly or slowly depending on the type of sword – some are less keen to talk to strangers who are about to pummel them into a different shape, whether it be pride or fear overtaking them.

“Come on,” I whisper to myself, my eyes squeezed shut. “This is easy work.”

Suddenly, I’m plunged into a blank space, an emptiness infinite white drawing me in on all side. Disoriented, I ground my feet into the white floor, twisting my body all around me in effort to catch that stray coloured string of its voice.

“Hello?” I call out, impatiently tapping my fingers on my arm. “It’s your lovely wielder, come to say hi!”

Nothing. Another beat passes, but I’m still not finding any colour of string, any hum within this endless white box.

I kiss my teeth; so, she’s the stubborn type. Defiantly, I begin to hunch over and sit cross-legged on the white floor. “I’m not leaving until you speak to me, you know…”

Silence stretches on for minutes on end, and I can’t help but suddenly and humourlessly laugh to myself. Makes sense Gramps would make a stubborn sword for an evenly stubborn wielder.

"Fine," I mutter, leaning back slightly as if I'm having a casual conversation. "You want to play hard to get? I can do that too."

I remain still, focusing on my breathing, letting the tension drain from my body. I need to clear my mind, to be open and receptive. The stillness stretches on, and I find myself in a strange state between patience and determination, a balancing act I’ve had to perfect over years of wielding blades.

But she’s still not giving in. Nothing but white noise consumes me, my eyes stinging from the blinding whiteness of the room.

Grinding my teeth, I can’t do anything but open my eyes and glare at the taunting sword in front of me. I release a string of curses, not knowing what else to do.

“No luck?” Zoro hums and I turn to see him sat on a stool beside me. I sigh and look back at the blade.

“She’s being petty as fuck,” I mutter. “Why is she so defiant, so stubborn, so…so infuriating to work with? What have I ever done to her?”

I turn around again to see Zoro smirk, giving me a pointed look. Look who’s talking.

I deadpan at him and say, “Are you begging me to break all your swords again, Roronoa?”

He barks out a laugh. “Now you’re being petty as fuck.”

“Shut up.”

He mockingly coos, eyes widening. “And then there’s that defiance—”

“I hate you.”

“And there’s that stubbornness… Are you trying to hit the triple whammy, or what?”

I groan out and whip my head back to the sword, even more pissed off than I was before.

Get your shit together, I think to myself. Stray pieces of dark hair fall in front of my face as I hold my head in my hand, staring at the smooth metal before me. Its blade gleams faintly in the dim light, and I know in my heart it’s quite literally trying to mock me with its silence.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to—”

A certain set of fingers touch my cheek. Choking on my spit, I look up to see Zoro out of focus, his calloused fingers tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

“Dude—"

His fingers begin to tuck another stray hair behind my ear, slowly twirling it around his pointer as he stares down at me teasingly. He slots it behind my ear before he reaches for another strand, until all he’s doing is stroking my head, his hands never releasing his hold on me. I stare at him and the way he’s looking at me, so endearingly, as if everything’s alright in his own little world.

“You’re always so caught up in everything, Spitfire,” he murmurs. His voice is barely above a whisper, unaware that he’s revealing his innermost thoughts to the space between us. “Are you begging me to take care of you?”

The words are simple, but they blow me out of the water. I search for the intention behind his words across his face, and for once, I notice the subtle bags that lay under his eyes, dark and blue and deep. That’s when realisation hits me full force in my chest, taking me completely off guard.

He’s struggling, too. He’s hiding it, too. He knows how it feels to carry so much responsibility over one measly human body, and he’s never complained about it once. I swallow hard, my heart thumping in guilt.

In a swift motion, Zoro’s thumb grazes along my jawline, achingly gentle as he tilts my chin up to meet his gaze. His cool grey eye locks onto mine with a heat that sends a jolt through me, pulling me closer like a magnet. They’re searching, probing, as if they’re trying to strip away every layer, every defence I’ve built around myself.

Zoro leans in, his voice dropping to a low, gravelly murmur that heats me to my core. His lips are so close, they brush against the shell of my ear as he speaks.

“You’re so fucking insufferable, you know that?” he murmurs, his tone rough and edged with frustration, but there’s something else there too— desperation? “Every time I look at you, I see someone who’s fighting just as goddamn hard as I am. And it pisses me off, knowing you’re just like me.”

“I didn’t know you were such a poet,” I sarcastically breathe out, not backing down from his gaze.

He grips me tighter, his fingers curling around the back of my neck. With a tug, he tanks me me closer to him, his eyes grazing across all of my features as if he’s about to drink me in. Suddenly, there’s no space left between us.

“Let me in,” he breathes, his voice a low, husky whisper that seems to vibrate through me. “Stop fighting me. Please,” he adds, his tone desperate, almost pleading.

My mind is reeling, caught in the magnetic pull of his presence. I feel his thumb graze over my parted lips, tracing the curve of my mouth with a touch that’s both soft and demanding. His eyes darken, and a low growl escapes him as his thumb drags slowly across my bottom lip, parting them further. My breath hitches, my heart racing as his thumb presses just a little harder, my teeth brushing against the rough pad of his thumb.

Then, just as suddenly, he pulls back, his hand falling to his side.

I quickly train my eyes on the bench in front of me. I hold my breath, not wanting to look at him. It’s not like Gramps has ever trained me to be soft – so how the hell do I respond to… this?

“Th… thanks? I— I mean—” I awkwardly choke out.

But his gaze doesn’t waver, now that he’s completely unrestrained his feelings, when he spits out, “I don’t want your fucking gratitude. I just want you. Unfiltered.”

A sharp breath escapes my throat as those words hang heavy in the air. I’m not sure whether Zoro is even aware of what he’s just said. I stare at him, feeling my soul come out of my body.

I can see the realisation dawn in his eyes as soon as he grounds himself back to reality. Zoro falters for a second, and he quickly averts his gaze again, a faint streak of red creeping up his neck. He clears his throat and shifts uncomfortably, his fingers flexing over air, momentarily forgetting that there aren’t even any swords in his hands.

“Zoro, I—” I start, but my voice falters, and I’m not sure what I’m even trying to say. That’s really gratifying to hear? I think I feel the same way? I’m incredibly turned on right now? All the potential words stick in my throat like dried glue.

He clears his throat again, this time more forcefully, as if shaking off his embarrassment. “Don’t make it weird,” he says, though there’s no real bite in his words. He looks away as he curses to himself and then mutters, “Fuck. This wasn’t the right time.”

I lower my eyes and rest in the uncomfortable pause between us.

“Did you really mean that, Roronoa?” I mumble out before I can stop myself. My eyes are still trained on the workbench in front of me. “I mean - before?”

Zoro hesitates, his hand lingering in the air as if he wants to reach for something but doesn't know what. His expression tightens for a moment, and I see a flicker of conflict in his eyes. He opens his mouth to say something, then closes it again, swallowing hard as if he’s fighting against himself.

“Yeah,” he finally admits, his voice low and rough. “I did.”

There’s no teasing in his tone, no attempt to brush it off or pretend it was a mistake. He’s just laid himself bare like fresh meat in front of me.

I look up at him, searching his face for something—reassurance, maybe, or understanding. His gaze is steady, his expression unyielding, but there’s a softness in his eyes that I’ve never seen before. It’s as if he’s waiting for me to say something, to respond to his confession, but I don’t know what to say.

“You don’t have to say anything,” he quickly interjects. His anxious gaze never leaves mine. “Just… don’t push me away, alright? Please.”

I swallow hard, my throat tightening as Zoro's words sink in. “I’ve been running a lot from you, haven’t I?”

Zoro's expression softens at my words, and he lets out a small, almost imperceptible sigh. His hand relaxes, no longer flexing with uncertainty, but hanging loosely by his side.

"Yeah, you have," he says quietly, his voice softer than I've ever heard it. He turns away, almost as if he’s not ready to have this conversation. “Look… Just… let’s just focus on the sword.”

I freeze, still reeling from his unexpected confession. I don’t know what to say. I feel like I’ve just been thrown around the room, completely disorientated and dizzied with what’s happening. But Zoro’s right; there are more pressing matters at hand, and dwelling on this now would only distract us. I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself, and turn my attention back to the sword lying on the workbench.

“Yeah,�� I manage to say, my voice slightly raspy. “The sword.”

Totally. Let’s just ignore whatever the fuck that was and pretend we’re solving Bepo’s mysterious disease.

I breathe out deeply, trying to cool myself before I can do anything. My fingers brush over the intricate engravings on the blade, feeling the cool metal under my touch. I close my eyes for a second, trying to remember the exact moment when I heard Gramps’s voice through the sword. It was faint, almost like a whisper carried on the wind, but it was there.

The room falls silent, the only sound the faint hum of the ship cutting through the waves. I close my eyes, letting everything else fade away, until it’s just me and the sword. I let my hand rest on the hilt, feeling the cool metal against my skin, and focus on the energy within it.

I’m plunged back into a room of pure white, the sigh of it sending me reeling once again. I ground my feet again – this time, with more defiance – before I scream off the top of my lungs.

“Alright, you little fucker!” I yell, my voice echoing around the room. I thrust my middle finger up at nothing in particular. “Get your ass down here before I grab out a hammer and pummel you into a golden trashcan. It’s time to talk.”

For a long moment, there’s nothing. Just the stillness of the room and the weight of my own doubt pressing down on me. But then, just as I’m about to give up, a string of colour rolls across the blank space, floating in elegant swirls. Gold.

“There,” I whisper, my eyes still squeezed shut. “Did you feel that?”

I feel Zoro take a step towards me. “Feel what?”

I hold my breath, waiting, and then it happens again—a soft, rhythmic pulse that seems to echo through the white space around me. It’s faint, but it’s there, a steady beat like the ticking of a clock.

“That,” I say, my voice barely a whisper. “It’s like… it’s finally listening to me.”

HEY - FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE, the sword shrieks within my mind.

My eyes widen at the voice – a bratty feminine presence lingering within the recesses of my brain, a certain spool of gold stringing through my thoughts in a very brash and irritating formation.

Well, you’re not my grandfather, I flatly respond, frowning at the same time.

The voice cackles like a devious child. The string of gold, its voice, begins to spin chaotically around me in angry jagged points.

WHO, THAT OLD BAG? she yells in my brain, throwing me teetering on the brink of insanity.

The string falls into a neat line, hovering vertically as if she’s taking the time to think. She goes upright again, a line spiking to the sound of her voice as if decided what to say.

HELL NAAAAH.

Who the fuck are you? I hiss, my fists clenching in irriration.

The sword screams into laughter, gold spinning around me in a blinding carousel.

WELL, I’M BASICALLY REALLY SMART. LIKE, I’M WELL READ AND, YA, KNOW, PRETTY INSIGHTFUL, AND I KNOW ALL ABOUT YOU. I KNOW YOUR PAST AND PRESENT, I KNOW YOUR FEARS AND WANTS, AND YOU’REEEE,

the string swings around as fast as possible as if to make a grand point,

PRETTY FUCKING LAME!

I scrunch my brows together, anger steadily pooling within my chest.

So, you’re… you’re basically a fucking encyclopaedia with a shitty attitude. Great. This is absolutely not what I needed.

IT’S ODENTA, BITCH! the sword hollers, bristling at my previous name calling. I know everything about YA sorry ass! What runs in YA veins! Who bore YA! Which poor fucker’s on the hunt for YA! Why YA are who YA are!

What’s with that shitty ass accent? I snap, yanking on the golden string, which earns a pissed off yelp from Odenta.

STOPSTOPSTOPSTOP! DON’T TOUCH ME OR I WON’T HELP YOU. I’LL END MY LIFE. I’LL BREAK APART. AND YOU’LL. BE. HELPLESS.

I steady my breathing, trying to remain calm.

Alright, I think to this bitch, if you know everything about me, then tell me how to save my friend. There’s a black substance that’s clinging on to him and it’s killing him. What the fuck is it, and how do I get rid of it?

There’s a brief pause, and for a moment, I’m worried she won’t answer. But then the voice returns, spiking again in golden string around my head.

AAAAAH YEAH, THAT LITTLE SHIT’S PRETTY NASTY, ISN’T IT? IT SMELLED WEIRD THE LAST TIME I WAS THERE. SMELLED LIKE COWSH-

I will deform you so fucking bad you won’t recognise yourself, I hiss, my fingers tangling into the golden thread. It cowers for a second, hearing the tone of my voice. Give me a proper answer, Odenta.

ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, LEMME DO A LOOKUP FOR YA. Then the string falls, drooping into a vertical line.

I wait, my fingers tapping impatiently against my arm. I shuffle in the white space, unsure of when I’ll even get an answer.

But then it comes back up again and swims past my arms. YEAH, BITCH, THEY’RE CALLED INCUBATORS.

I hold in a breath, dread piercing through me like an icicle wedging itself in my chest. What do Incubators do?

UMMM… ON PAGE 753 ON THE KOZUKI SUKIYAKI WORD-VOMIT, the sword continues.

It clears its throat and then, in a disorientating manner, its voice transforms into a soothing, almost robotic, feminine voice.

Incubators preserve human and animal alike within their mass until every sign of their life ceases, and only their source of power remains. This process may be called Draining.

Example: Incubators, although drawn to all sources of power, are most commonly drawn to devil fruit wielders. When they drain the life of a wielder, only the fruit remains in its grasp.

I feel bile rising up to my throat. Although my vision is blocked, I can sense Zoro’s eyes on me, sensing the revulsion within my body as my fingers twitch away from the sword. Incubators—creatures that drain life, leaving only power behind. The implications are terrifying.

Draining. I think, trying to process the word. So, like, some kind of forced extraction of energy. If that’s what’s happening to Bepo…

The voice clears its throat again, going back to its little despicable self. YA. SO BASICALLY, THAT THING’S GOT THIS LITTLE THINGY-MAJIG TO YOUR BUDDY-

Odenta, I swear to God, I’ll reshape you.

OKAY, OKAY, CALM YOUR TITS. WHAT I MEANT WAS THAT THE INCUBATOR’S GOT A SOUL LINK TO YOUR FRIEND…. SO YA GOTTA KILL THE THING FIRST, I GUESS.

And how do I do that? I snap, my desperation creeping into my thoughts.

The sword hums with a flicker of light. It pauses, as if taking the time to think. WELP, IT’S TIME TO FACE YOUR DADDY ISSUES.

What, I hiss through clenched teeth, the fuck?

DADDY’S GOT SOME INFO. GOTTA TALK TO HIM. She matter-of-factly says.

I stumble a few steps back, choking on my breath.

My dad.

The thought sends a jolt through me. A man I know nothing about—someone I’ve never met, never heard from. I grip the hilt of the sword tighter, my mind racing with questions and emotions I can’t quite process.

How the hell… I think to myself. How am I supposed to find a man I don’t know anything about?

YEAH, WELL, I KNOW YOUR DADDY. REALLY WELL, ACTUALLY, SUPER FUCKING WELL-

Alright. Let me get my hammer out a quick sec-

Odenta bristles and immediately cuts me off. FINE, FINE! JEEZ, YA WANNA KNOW HIS NAME?

Her question hangs in my mind, and for a moment, I’m overwhelmed by shock.

I open my eyes to glance at Zoro. He’s still watching me, his lips pursed in concern, asking me through his eyes if I’m okay.

I sigh and shut my eyes, squeezing them hard.

Well, shit, it’s not like we have any other options available. And if it’s for Bepo… maybe I can put my family spite aside.

I look up at Odenta, my fingers gripping hard over the steel blade.

Fuck it, I finally think, my resolve firming. Who is he?

The sword hums again, taking on the more soothing encyclopaedic tone as her voice, before she releases the most unexpected name I couldn’t have even tried to guess.

Vegapunk Shaka II., the human son of Dr. Vegapunk. The sword tauntingly whispers, very much aware of the shock that courses through my body. Would you like his location?

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theheartofone · 1 year ago

Note

Which genre is steel in her veins?

hmm id describe sihv as an alcoholic drink. it’s a big concoction of adventure & mystery (a locate-and-save with a few magical stops along the way), a nice shot of slow burn, a few dabs of fluff, a powerful absinthe shot of angst and a considerable dash of smut (mdni!)

shake it all up and u have a crazy ride !

0 notes

theheartofone · 1 year ago

Text

Steel in Her Veins, Chapter: Forty

Read On: AO3 | Table of Contents | Next Chapter

Characters: Fem!Reader x Roronoa Zoro

notes: sorry guys! had to repost this chap because tumblr was acting weirdly ;0

Chapter Forty: Sacrificial Lambs

"But how would he know who I am?" Law's voice is tense as he paces in front of me. His mind seems to be racing, each step heavy with a mixture of frustration and confusion.

"I don’t know, Law. I just don’t know," I reply, my tone more resigned than I’d like. My hands move swiftly, stuffing my work equipment back into a storage box. The others in the cave are equally busy, some finishing their packing while others prepare for the journey ahead. Zoro remains sitting on the floor beside me, our chain lying slack between us. His eyes are closed, his body still, as if he's taking a moment to rest amidst the chaos. “My old man wasn’t exactly upfront with me.”

Law stops pacing and leans against the wall, his sharp gaze fixed on me. "It doesn’t make sense," he mutters, almost to himself, "that he’s trying to reach out to me, in any case."

In the corner of my vision, I see a tan hand reach toward my back. With a tired sigh, I spin around and firmly slap away Luffy’s dumb attempt at trying to steal the curious longsword that now takes solace over my back, staring down at him like some sort of elder sister I’ve decided to fill the role for. He looks up at me like a deer caught in headlights, a pout sneaking his way through his mouth.

“Shouldn’t you be packing your bags?” I raise a brow. He grins at me and stretches his arms as if trying to make a point.

“Don’t have anything to pack!”

“Then help Franky out with something.”

Luffy makes a point to pause to think, scrunch his eyebrows hard and train his eyes on the ceiling. Then he looks back at me with a decided beam. “Nope!”

I’m going to rip my hair out. Now that he really thinks we’re siblings, Luffy’s decided to attach himself to my hip. To the other side of my hip, since Zoro’s already taken that lovely space up.

I let out a frustrated moan, my eyes piercing the box in front of me. I catch Law’s smirk, who’s clearly entertained and relishing in my irritation.

“If you still had your powers, there’d be smoke rising from your head right now,” he mentions.

“Am I supposed to thank you?”

Law shrugs. “Wouldn’t hurt.” With a swift push with his foot, he moves off the wall and begins to turn on his heel towards his half-mended Polar Tang, his own crew chaotically stuffing strewn bits and pieces from their camp back into their ship. “Make sure Franky attaches my ship to yours. From the looks of it, we’re still going to be your guests.”

“Tell him yourself,” I mutter to myself sourly as Law leaves. I crouch down to resume taping up my boxes of belongings with a resolute sigh, facing Zoro on the same level while doing so.

My fingers slowly stop their fumbling as I quietly take in this man’s face in. He remains as quiet as ever, his eyes closed, his free arm wedged beneath his armpit. I can’t ever tell whether he’s deep in sleep or he’s just resting his eyes, but I guess it doesn’t ever really matter; he’ll startle awake if there’s even the smell of danger lurking nearby. I can’t help but smile at his calm face, his mouth slightly parted, and think how adorable he looks when he's so calm.

Suddenly, I hear Luffy release a dramatic sigh from his lips - then, I feel a huge weight slam into my side as he presses his body against mine. I grunt out a little breath, shifting my weight to my other foot to examine his sad face, and I can't help but admit that it made me soften up a little.

“What's wrong, Luff?” I mutter softly, just in case Zoro is actually asleep. Luffy only pouts harder and wedges his head deeper into the crook of my shoulder.

“Do we have to go now?” Luffy whines, looking at me with pining puppy-dog eyes. “This place is so cool, and the dragons are even cooler, and I haven’t even tried their lava pool out yet.”

“Aragnus’ll be following us from above,” I try to console, looking at him with a little bit of a humoured smile. “He’s going to be—”

“NO WAY!” Luffy exclaims. “He’s gonna come with us?! Can he fly our ship on his back? Can I ride him? Can—”

“Luffy,” Zoro grumbles with his eyes still closed. “Shut up.”

But Luffy isn’t listening. He’s already running to Aragnus, who’s sat in a humongous pile of scales in the corner of the cave, trying his best to stay out of the way. In the corner of his vision, he watches Luffy sling himself towards him, and with a pissed off grunt, slides one black wing over his face to shield himself.

I turn around with a snort and mutter, “He’s gonna get incinerated one of these days.”

“He already has been,” Zoro responds.

With surprise, I look down to see Zoro fully awake, watching me with curiosity.

I smirk at him and prod my boot against his. “Morning, sunshine. Sleep well?”

He grunts in response. “Better than the time we had last night.”

“Glad to hear it,” I reply, my tone laced with sarcasm as I finish sealing up my last box. I give it a final shove, sliding it across the cave floor to the growing pile of supplies.

Zoro shifts slightly, his chains clinking faintly as he adjusts his position. "You’re too tense,” he mutters, cracking one eye open to look at me. “All this packing is making you anxious.”

“I’d like to see you do it,” I retort, brushing a stray strand of hair out of my face. I shake my wrist that's connected to his, making the chains clack together. “Besides, someone has to make sure we’re ready to go. It's not like you can help much.”

He chuckles softly, the sound almost lost in the noise of everyone bustling about the cave. “Fair point. But, y’know, it’s okay to let someone else handle things. Even if that someone is Luffy.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, because letting Luffy handle things always ends up well.” I glance over to where Luffy is now trying to climb onto Aragnus’s back, the dragon still keeping its wing firmly over its face in an attempt to ignore him. I laugh out loud, admiring the view. “See what I mean?”

Zoro shrugs, a subtle smirk tugging at his lips. “At least everyone else seems to be on task.”

I turn around, taking in the chaotic scene in the cavern. Franky and Usopp are in a heated debate over how to move a massive crate of engine parts, their voices rising above the clamour. Nearby, Nami stands over a map, furiously scribbling notes and barking orders at Brook and Chopper, who scramble to load a cart with supplies. Robin, calm and composed in the middle of the mayhem, uses her extra arms to neatly fold sails and pack crates, working with an effortless grace that contrasts sharply with the frenzy around her.

“Do you have any idea where we’re going?” Zoro’s voice echoes from behind me. I purse my lips and shake my head, not taking my eyes off the camp in front of me.

“I’m hoping this thing,” I say while patting the hilt of my sword behind me, “is gonna magically whip out some information.”

Zoro remains silent, but I can feel his eyes pinned on me from behind.

I glance over at him confusedly and catch his eye. "You’re not saying anything.”

“Hold on,” he whispers intently, his lips pursed. He looks serious – too serious, and whatever playfulness I had within me is dissipating the more I watch him tense up. He rises to his feet, pauses in his tracks and listens. And listens. And...

And he turns to me, his look intense. “Something isn’t right.”

“What?—"

A sudden rumble shakes the cave, causing dust and small rocks to tumble from the ceiling. Everyone freezes, their eyes darting around in alarm.

“What was that?” Chopper squeaks, his eyes wide with fear.

I watch Law in the distance frowning, his hand instinctively reaching for his sword as he looks at the direction of the sound.

As if in response, the ground beneath us begins to tremble, the vibrations growing stronger with each passing second. I stagger slightly, reaching out to steady myself against the wall.

“Earthquake?” Usopp calls out, his voice wavering.

“Not quite,” Robin murmurs, her eyes narrowing as she studies the trembling ground.

Suddenly, a loud crack echoes through the cave, followed by a rasping gasp. I whip around to watch a black glob of liquid slither through every single crack within the cave.

The thick, inky substance seeps through the cracks in the walls and floor, moving with an unsettling, almost sentient fluidity. The air grows colder as the black liquid spreads, and as it slips across the floor, the affected rocky ground is sapped of any colour and life it could have had.

“What is that?” Nami’s voice is a mixture of fear and confusion as she takes a cautious step back.

I stare at the colour of this thing, the texture of its skin as it slightly bounces like deflated jelly, and my eyes narrow as I sense this odd familiarity that pierces my chest. That's when realisation hits me like a sucker punch to the face.

I step forwards, my mouth left hanging open. “That’s—”

"Stay back," Law commands, his voice cutting through the tension like a knife. He steps forward, his sword drawn, his gaze locked onto the growing pool of ink. There's a look of steely determination on his face, his knuckles turning white as he grips harder and harder on Kikoku.

Everyone else is motionless in place, uncertainty and fear etched across their faces. Luffy now stands still, his eyes narrowed in a rare show of sobriety as he stares at the dark substance with a mix of curiosity and unease. Zoro moves beside me, his stance ready, his swords already unsheathed and gleaming in the dim light of the cave.

The rumbling grows louder, and Aragnus rises slowly, his enormous frame towering over everyone else in the cavern. His wings twitch from instinct, those two boundless planes of dark membranes stretching on both sides, casting long shadows across the cave walls.

And then, from within the centre of the darkness, it begins to rise.

The inky figure emerges slowly, its form taking shape from the void. A jelly of darkness, a silhouette of a body, bruised and glinting like a wet polluted membrane. The sight of it sends a sweat racing down my spine, my breath catching in my throat as my gaze is drawn to the eyes—those large, unblinking magenta eyeballs.

The eyeballs float, unmoored, in the places where eyes should be, staring out with an unnatural intensity. There's something profoundly wrong about those eyes, something that speaks of a deep, malevolent intelligence lurking within the creature's formless body.

"It's him," Law breathes, his voice taut with a mixture of rage and fear. "The one who took Penguin."

I know, I wanted to tell Law, if my throat would allow me. I know that figure all too well.

The figure moves with a fluid grace, the wet globules that compose its body swirling and shifting like a living translucent organ. The ground beneath us trembles with each of its steps, the cave's walls vibrating with the resonance of some unseen power. And then it stops, its eyeless gaze fixed on us, those eerie magenta orbs locking onto mine.

I feel a surge of anger rising within me, a fury that burns through the fear gripping my chest.

“Bring him back,” I whisper, trembling with rage, my fingers itching to reach for the hilt of my sword on my back. I take a step forward before Zoro can stop me, my face rising with the taste for retaliation. “Bring him back now.”

The creature’s magenta eyes blink wetly at me, piercing straight through my fury, through my deepest fears. The darkness around it seems to pulse, almost as if it’s responding to my demand. I grip my sword tightly, my knuckles turning white. I feel Zoro’s presence beside me, his intensity mirroring my own, but I can’t let myself be restrained by caution now. Not when Gramps is under this creature’s control.

Raya, Aragnus slowly whispers, a warning in his thoughts, but I indignantly push his voice away.

“Bring him back!” I bellow, louder this time, my voice echoing off the cave walls. The demand hangs in the air, but the creature remains still, its form rippling slightly as if it’s considering my words—or mocking them.

Suddenly, the figure breaks its silence with a raspy, wet laugh, echoing throughout the rocky foundation in malice.

“It’s you!” It rasps out, its voice choking with a sense of perverted want. “I have only ever wanted you, yet instead I now have an old vegetable, drained and spitting all over my walls.”

My chest tightens, anger flaring up like a wildfire threatening to consume me. “You little fucking shi—”

“Stop it,” Law snaps, his eyes narrowing on me, his hand thrown at my direction. He turns to the form, his jaw clenched tight. “What about my crew-mate? Where is he?”

The creature's wet, rasping laugh continues to fill the cave, echoing off the walls and reverberating in my chest. Its dark form shifts and contorts, a swirling mass of wetness that seems almost amused by Law’s demand.

“Trafalgar D. Law,” it rasps, spitting a glob of black ink onto the floor. The vile substance hisses as it hits the ground, and the creature shifts its gaze toward Luffy, its eyes narrowing with contempt. “Monkey D. Luffy. My two gleaming jewels. How is it that I am constantly fooled into capturing the sacrificial lambs instead of the true contenders?”

While Luffy bristles at the comment, I can see the realisation dawning on Law’s face as he processes the creature’s words, and the fury within my stomach begins to boil right upwards again.

“You’ve lost your edge, havent you?” I goad against my better judgement, taking another step, dragging an unwilling Zoro behind me. “If an old man and a poor crew-mate can outwit you at your own game, how powerful can you really be?”

Raya! Aragnus bellows within my mind, his voice thrumming with an edge to it. His eyes, unblinking, stare at me with a sense of fear that feels too unorthodox on his face. Remember your shackles. You cannot fight.

But it’s too late.

The creature’s magenta eyes flare with a sudden intensity, its form rippling violently as if my words have struck a nerve. The shadows around it writhe and twist, expanding outward in a furious storm of inky darkness that seems to consume the air itself. The low, rumbling growl deepens, growing louder and more threatening, reverberating through the cave like a thunderclap.

“You dare mock me?” the creature snarls, its voice dripping with venomous rage. The once smooth flow of its form now quivers with barely contained fury. Aragnus growls in his throat, his claws gripping and plunging into the floor with a terrifying intensity, but the creature does not pay attention to him. “You, a mere speck in the universe, dare question my power?”

The entire foundation of the room screams of danger just by its presence, the same danger pressing down on my chest like an invisible weight. I can feel the air vibrating with the creature’s anger, the darkness around it pulsing with malevolent force. Every instinct screams at me to back away, but I hold my ground, refusing to show weakness. I feel Zoro grab my wrist tightly until his knuckles go white, a silent plead to stop trying to pick an unbalanced fight, but I'm not in the right mind to listen. I firmly shrug his hand away.

In an instant, the creature lunges forward, a torrent of wet, pulsing liquid streaking through the air with a terrifying speed. Its form stretches, expanding into a monstrous claw-like shape, reaching out toward me with a deadly intent. The cave walls shudder with the force of its movement, dust and debris falling from above as the ground beneath us trembles.

“Raya!” Luffy, Aragnus and Zoro both shout at the same time, their voices sharp with urgency as Zoro yanks me backward, pulling me out of the path of the creature’s attack. The inky claw slashes through the air where I stood just moments before, its shadowy edges slicing clean through a stone pillar, causing it to crumble and crash to the ground.

I stumble but manage to regain my footing, my heart pounding in my chest as I stare at the destruction the creature has wrought. My breath comes in ragged gasps, but I quickly steady myself, anger flaring even hotter within me.

I don't know who I am anymore. My anger has now taken over my body; the muscles in my face and my arms flex to the beat of brutality. I flash a maniacal grin, and I can feel my pupils grow, deform, disappear within my eyeballs. A glow of white reflects against my nose and cheeks, and I can tell my eyes are on surging with power.

“Fuck you,” I spit out; the only two words that I can even think of saying in this state.

The creature recoils, its form rippling with rage at my defiance. The shadows around it pulse violently, as if matching its furious heartbeat, and the magenta orbs narrow to thin slits. The air grows colder, and the cavern fills with a thick, oppressive darkness that seems to seep into my very bones. I can feel its malice tightening around me like a vice.

"You insolent wretch!" the creature roars, its voice distorted and filled with a guttural fury that echoes through the cave. Its inky form expands again, the darkness condensing into another claw, even larger and more menacing than before, stretching toward me with lethal intent.

I feel Zoro’s hand grip tighter around my arm, his muscles tensing in preparation to yank me out of the way again, but I pull free from his grasp yet again. I’m not backing down this time. Not when this thing is right here in front of me.

Instantly, both of my hands reach for my towering longsword, and it screams a piercing shink as I unsheathe its raw metal. Slowly, as if drinking in on my intoxication, the runes on my sword ignite, burning with a blinding white light. I can feel the energy surging through the blade, crackling like electricity, the heat radiating up through my arm.

The runes glow brighter and brighter, the power within them responding to me, my desperate need to fight back. The chains around my wrists feel like they’re burning, but I push the pain aside, focusing on the creature ahead of me.

“Penguin, Sukiyaki. Where are they? ” I scream, thunder blending into my words, gold seeping through my veins, black consuming my entire vision.

As the creature lunges toward me again, I charge forward, tugging on with Zoro’s weight, raising my sword high. The energy coursing through the blade is wild and untamed, the light so intense that it leaves streaks in my vision. I swing with all my might, aiming straight for the centre of the creature’s mass.

But just as I bring my sword down, I feel a sudden, jarring pull at my wrist. My legs buckle beneath me, and I stumble, my swing going wide. The electrifying glow around my sword flickers, then dims as I lose my balance. The weight of the chains around my wrists feels heavier than ever, dragging me down like lead weights.

"No!" I scream, trying to steady myself, but it’s too late. My momentum is gone, and I tumble forward, hitting the ground hard. The impact sends a shock of pain through my body, and the sword slips from my grasp, its light fading as it clatters across the floor.

The creature’s shadowy claw slashes through the air where I had been moments before, just missing me as I fall. Its furious scream fills the cave, a sound of pure frustration and anger. It retracts its claw, its form rippling and contorting as if struggling to contain its own rage.

I struggle to push myself up, the cold metal of the chains digging into my skin, sapping my strength with every passing second. I can feel the weight of Zoro’s presence beside me, his muscles tensed and ready, but I can’t let this creature win. Not after everything it’s taken from us.

"Stay the fuck down!" Zoro's voice is rough, but there’s a hint of urgency I rarely hear from him. He's pulling me back, trying to shield me with his own body, his swords raised in a defensive stance. The creature’s furious eyes lock onto us, its form rippling with anger as it prepares to strike again.

Law is on the move now, darting forward with his sword gleaming in the dim light of the cave, but the throbbing, visceral creature is too fast as it senses his charging presence. Its body, bulging and round, falls like liquid onto the floor, slithering all the way toward Law’s feet. Law is stupefied at its speed, stumbling backwards and as the bulging black mess shoots straight upwards, Bepo roars in panic and charges towards the forming black shape.

But as the liquid starts to slink and seep towards Bepo’s feet, through his pure white fur, Law screams with a sort of wildness that ravages his throat.

"ROOM!" Law shouts, his voice echoing through the cavern as a blue sphere expands from his outstretched hand, engulfing the creature within it. "SHAMBLES!" With a swift motion, he swaps the creature’s position with a boulder, buying them a momentary reprieve.

But the creature isn’t easily fooled. It reconstitutes itself quickly, the ink swirling around it like a living storm. The magenta eyes narrow again, focusing on Law with a vengeful glare. It lunges forward, but Luffy intercepts, his rubbery arm stretching out to land a solid punch across the creature's face.

“Gomu Gomu no Pistol,” Luffy yells, but as his hand interacts with the creature’s texture, there’s no hard impact. Instead, his fist is swallowed into the creature’s clotted form, and as it does, the creature begins to open its mouth wider. And it swallows. And swallow, and swallow. Its mouth is like quicksand, trying to pull Luffy deeper into its dark mass, and Luffy’s eyes widen with a mixture of surprise and irritation as he struggles against the force.

“Franky, get the ship going!” I hear Nami scream, her heels clattering against the floor as she dives on board, dragging Chopper along with her. “Fall back!”

“Aragnus, get them out.” Robin’s eyes pierce the dragon’s whilst she conjures up an amalgamation of limbs. With a tidal wave of hands, she pushes and pulls all the Hearts and Strawhats toward the Sunny.

Aragnus roars, a deep, guttural sound that reverberates through the cave, shaking the very walls. He sweeps one massive wing down, creating a gust of wind that pushes the creature back momentarily. It gives us the smallest window, but it’s enough for Luffy to yank his arm free, the dark substance reluctantly letting go with a sickening slurp.

“Wait!” I shout, glancing back at Law. “We need infor—”

“No time!” Law cuts me off sharply, his face set in determination as he holds the creature back with another ROOM, the blue sphere enveloping the creature again. “Get on board, now!”

Franky has already started up the Sunny’s engines, the hum of the machinery growing louder. “Let’s get moving!” he bellows, his hands flying over the controls. The rest of the crew scrambles on board, some still dragging boxes and supplies.

Aragnus steps forward, his enormous head turning toward Zoro and me. His eyes are sharp, filled with both urgency and resolve.

Get on my back, now! He commands, his voice thundering through every single nerve in my body.

Without a second thought, I scramble up his scaly side, Zoro right behind me. The moment we’re both secure, Aragnus leaps into the air, his powerful wings beating down and shoots straight up to the ceiling without any warning. The sudden movement jerks me back, but I hold on tight, my fingers digging into his scales.

The creature below roars in frustration, its shadowy form expanding once more as it tries to reach for us, but Aragnus is too quick. We soar higher, the cave growing smaller beneath us.

Law and Luffy manage to leap onto the ship’s deck as it starts moving away, its engines roaring. The rest of Law’s crew is already on board the Sunny, still in the midst of securely attaching the half-broken Polar Tang to its tail.

“Everyone, hold on!” Franky shouts, turning the wheel sharply to avoid a falling boulder. The ships veer away just in time, the boulder crashing into the water below with a massive splash.

“Chopper, make sure everyone’s accounted for!” Nami yells, her eyes scanning the deck frantically. The doctor in question begins slipping and sliding on her command, taking in every and any pirate on board our ship.

As we fly higher, I glance back down at the cave entrance. The creature is still there, its form distorting with rage. It slams its claw-like appendage against the cave walls in frustration, but it’s clear that it’s stuck.

Aragnus rises above the cliffs, the sky open and vast before us. I take a deep breath, the cool air filling my lungs, and let out a sigh of relief. We’ve escaped, at least for the moment.

“Hey,” Zoro mumbles in my ear, his breath warm against my skin. His fingers tentatively reach towards my waist, curling them over me as if to make sure I'm really there with him. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I reply, though my voice is hoarse. I can still feel the cold bite of the chains around my wrists, a constant reminder of our earlier struggle. I turn around to look at his pale face, silently, frantically, examining him for injuries. “Yeah. Are you?”

He nods, his gaze shifting back to the creature below. “That thing isn’t gonna give up easily.”

Law, now standing on the deck of the Sunny, shouts up at us, his expression grim. “That thing is after us. It won’t stop until it has what it wants.”

“Then we’ll stop it,” I firmly say. I look at them all from below and to Zoro behind me. “We’ll all give it shit to reckon with.”

Zoro smirks and leans closer to my ear, his fingers squeezing my waist, a stray green curl tickling my skin. “You read my mind.”

Suddenly, I hear Chopper scream from below. His frantic hooves scratch against the deck in pure horror, yelling at anyone to pay attention to him.

“Chopper…” Zoro mumbles in bewilderment.

“Guys, please,” Chopper pants, sweat running stupidly fast through the wafts of his brown fur. “Something’s wrong. Bepo’s in trouble. It got him."

18 notes · View notes

theheartofone · 1 year ago

Text

Steel in Her Veins, Chapter: Thirty-Nine

Read On: AO3 | Table of Contents | Next Chapter

Characters: Fem!Reader x Roronoa Zoro

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Spitfire

I’m going to kill Law.

No, really, I’m planning his demise.

Nami’s fingers gently interlock through my dark and unruly hair, neatly braiding two symmetrical strips across my head - but all that’s running under that brewing scalp of mine is how I can make Law pay for what he’s done.

Last night was the worst. With Zoro’s snoring and his random mutterings in his sleep, I was practically left wide awake, strewn across the open-spaced crumbling floor, my eye twitching in unbridled irritation.

And with my hand being otherwise occupied, I woke up like a mess. Dishevelled and barbaric, my hair kept slipping over my eyes and I was left there with no way of helping myself. At one point, I considered shaving my head clean - but before I could grab a sharp scrap of metal to de-hair myself, Nami had walked to the firepit of where Zoro and I sat like furious toddlers. She took one pitiful long look at me, and then had decided she had to intervene with my appearance.

“Hey, it’s not so bad,” she lightly says in my ear, her fingers looping through another dark brown lock into another. Her other hand pats my head, her orange hair entangling around my shoulders in a sign of solidarity. “Maybe… I don’t know, maybe it’ll make you two learn to tolerate each other more?”

“But he sucks!” I whine out, stamping my free hand against the rocky ground. “He sucks at sleeping, Nami! You know what he so lovingly said in his sleep last night? Into my ear? ‘I’m going cut you down. I’m going to bury all your limbs in different places, so that even in your death you won’t be honoured.’ I was fucking horrified. I couldn’t sleep.”

Robin’s rich laugh echoes throughout the cave, her deep blue eyes fixed on mine. She tilts her head as if considering a thought, a finger pressed beneath her mouth. “I wonder how he’d cut you down with only one hand free to him.”

I gape at Robin and give her a thanks for adding more fuel to my nightmare spout; not to mention, I can feel Nami behind me with a massive grin on her face as she sprays a mist of water against my matted hair.

“It’s not funny.” I pout, eyeing the hot breakfast that Sanji’s so lovingly cooked up, all encircling deliciously around the firepit. “I’m not even in the mood to eat anymore. Zoro eats the size for two fucking orcs, anyway.”

Robin amusedly looks at me as she pointedly lays her book on the floor. She places her chin in the palm of her hand, which in turn makes me raise a brow.

Not knowing why, I hesitate for a second. “What?”

She shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Raya, but I can’t help find this a little entertaining,” she smiles, her eyes flicking to the area next to me. “Especially when Zoro’s sitting right next to you.”

I turn and for the first time in the entire morning, I realise that Zoro is indeed sat right next to me. As if he could even be anywhere else.

I slowly turn, meeting the gaze of someone who’s been pointedly glaring at me for a lot longer than I’ve realised, his bewildered look searing into me as if I’ve just insulted him.

My face falls.

Oh. I did just insult him.

“Really?” Zoro grumbles out, his mouth full of sausage and bread. He instantly drops the rest of his breakfast onto the plate, as if hurt by what I said, and, in a tantrum, wipes the grease on his trousers.

“We have napkins,” Nami quietly mutters out, judgement written all over her face.

My face contorts from guilt to irritation in an instant. “Well, excuse me for trying to have some girl time, Zoro,” I blurt out and eye him with disdain. “I need a way to get through this… imprisonment, somehow.”

“Oh yeah? Why don’t we talk about how you accidentally flashed me when you were taking a bath?” Zoro grins with spite, a brow raised at me in challenge. My face falls, heat growing across my cheeks. Oh, gods. “One second you make me crouch on the floor to get you in the water, and the next second you try to get out, tackling me down all wet and n—"

I clamp my other hand over his mouth shut – sealed tight, air-locked – as I hiss, “It was an accident!”

Nami and Robin burst out laughing, moving their heads between Zoro and I as if witnessing a legendary sword-fighting match.

“Yeah, never mind what I said before; looks like you two are really getting to know each other without my help,” Nami impishly says, making us chained folk both roll our eyes and Robin chuckle louder.

For a moment, Nami hesitates, and before she sits in the empty space besides me, she takes the perfect moment to scruffle Zoro’s mossy hair, making him grumble and helplessly attempt to duck away from her looming hand. Nami only smirks and twirls a few of his green strands in her fingers, eyes glinting at Zoro with the slightest inkling of hope. “You need a hairdresser too, princess?”

“No.”

A kiss of teeth. “You suck.”

“Go bother the cook,” a muffle from a mouthful of sausage and bread quips back. Suddenly, a slow smirk rises on one side of Zoro’s mouth as he takes a moment to look at Nami in the eyes. “Talkin’ about that, didn’t I see you and him gettin’ all tolerant with each other yesterday?”

I look up in surprise, but Robin only smirks with her usual goddamn omniscient look in her eyes. Nami’s face has fallen as if Zoro’s just struck a knife in her face before a terrifying appearance of fury crosses her. A beat passes before Nami and I both shout out at the same time.

“What?” I gasp in betrayal, accusingly stabbing a finger at Zoro’s arm. “Why didn’t you tell me anything!”

“I’m going to pummel you in the face,” Nami grits out through clenched teeth, her legs tensing as she prepares to lunge at Zoro. Instinctively, Zoro raises his free arm to block the incoming blow, bracing himself for impact. But the strike never comes.

Zoro hesitates, slightly opening his eye, puzzled by the sudden stillness. His confusion mirrors my own as I glance at Nami, expecting her fury to have landed by now. But instead of following through with her threat, she’s frozen, her gaze lifted to the ceiling, eyes wide with something that almost looks like awe.

My curiosity piqued, I follow her line of sight, craning my neck to see what has captured her attention. There, in the distance, my eyes lock onto a familiar beady-eyed beast.

Of course, I think, suppressing a wry smile. Great timing.

A silhouette of an unnaturally immense-sized dragon beats its wings in equal movements, with three tiny sized passengers scrambling on his stern – one of them clasping his straw hat on his head with a flimsy arm. Luffy’s screams bounce on any available wall, floor, and ceiling throughout the gaping tunnel, making Aragnus huff out through his snout in impatience.

I don’t know whether to grin or to snarl at the view – in one sense, I have some gripe with Aragnus, from outing me as some sort of deathstalker in the worst way possible. In another sense, he did what he had to do to keep me alive. I wouldn’t be here, curse-free and, more importantly, without any metallic shrapnel thorning throughout my body.

In any case, he’s not the prey of my fury today. No, that all goes to a certain doctor on board.

Luffy cheers again, his squawky voice reverberating through all our ears. I amusedly smile as I watch both Zoro and Aragnus unintentionally breathe out a resolute sigh at the same time.

Your brother has given me much discomfort this morning, Aragnus hisses through my head, his voice tinged with slight weariness. He has tested my restraint more than once. I’ve considered reducing him to ashes.

For half a second, my eyes widen after hearing his words. Brother. Luffy, my… brother? Not biologically, but I suppose… cosmically?

I push the thought aside and glance up at the massive dragon. Our eyes meet, and I can’t resist flashing him a mischievous grin.

Having a little servant-master bonding time? I didn’t know your courtesy also extends to Luffy.

Aragnus sassily huffs and looks away from me, as if trying to hide the non-existent embarrassment on his face. I serve you, and by extension, those that share your line. It is nothing more than so.

I snort and watch him soar closer and closer to our camp, his wings riding on the fresh breeze coming in within the interconnecting tunnels to each cavern. Yeah, right, I think to myself. If this old grump doesn’t like Luffy, he wouldn’t be soaring around right now, doing so many ostentatious mid-air tricks in effort of gaining his approval.

When Aragnus’s paws gently scrape against the claw-marked ground in landing, Usopp’s the first to slink off his back and onto the floor like quivering jelly.

“I… I’m…” Usopp mumbles out, unable to form a coherent sentence. Sanji curiously strolls over to him and pokes his pale corpse with the tip of his shoe.

“I told you to eat breakfast before going on that joyride, dumbass,” Sanji grumbles, his tone thick with disapproval. He then turns to Aragnus, twirling an unlit cigarette between his fingers. “Care to do me a favour, dragon?”

Aragnus responds with a low, unintelligible hiss, his beady eyes narrowing as he shifts his gaze to me.

What have I become? A mere trick-performing dog for your pitiful little camp? he grumbles in my mind.

I suppress a snicker, raising my brows in mock chastisement. You heard him, Aragnus.

With an exasperated flick of his wings, Aragnus allows Chopper and Luffy to slide off his arm before lazily turning back toward Sanji. Without warning, a tiny jet of flame shoots from Aragnus's snout, aimed directly at the chef.

“Shit!” Sanji yelps, jerking back as a small burn forms on one of his fingers. He shoots a furious glare at Aragnus, waving his hand to cool the sting. “What the hell was that for, you scaly bastard?”

Aragnus shifts his gaze from Sanji to me, a smug glint in his eyes. Sanji, still nursing his singed finger, turns to me with a frown, his expression a mix of annoyance and disbelief, like a scolded child.

Go on, Aragnus urges, his tone almost playful. Tell him what I said.

I sigh, shaking my head in resignation. “Aragnus says, ‘Oops.’”

Expecting Sanji to blow up at Aragnus’s evident sarcasm, I quickly pull out a plaster from one of my work bags and wave it at him as a distraction, making Sanji instantly zip his mouth shut and stare at me with a terrifying amount of adoration.

“How can you be so... so...” he whispers, taken by my seemingly incredible act of generosity.

“RAAAAYYAAAAAA!” Luffy screams, one of his arms locking around Aragnus’s paw, the other swinging maddeningly like a baseball pitcher until it blurs into only colour and no limb.

“Fuck,” I breathe out, my eyes widening in sheer terror with knowing what’s coming.

Bracing myself, I squeeze my eyes shut, knowing there’s no escape from the chaos that’s about to ensue. In a flash, Zoro reacts, twisting his body and pulling me into him, my head colliding with his warm chest just as Luffy releases his grip on Aragnus and catapults himself in our direction.

Luffy lets out a startled yelp as he crashes into Zoro’s back, his momentum abruptly halted. He bounces off and lands on the ground, immediately pouting as he looks up at us.

“Zoroooo!” he whines, clearly disappointed. “I was trying to surprise her!”

Zoro, now being sandwiched in between two cosmic-bound forces, grunts out a laboured huff.

“You were about to knock her head off clean,” Zoro pointedly says. He looks back at me for a beat and our gazes lock. An inscrutable look washes over him before realisation hits him. His arm disappears from my waist, the warmth of his touch instantly going as quick as it came – and for a brief moment, I wanted to yank his arm and place it back where it was. He peels Luffy off his back like a sticker, depositing him in front of us.

Luffy blinks for a moment as Zoro sorts him out, but when his eyes finally find mine, he grins wildly and twists his arms around me.

“Man, today’s a great day!” Luffy sings, adoringly squeezing me along with all the breath I have. “I have another sis’! Who woulda’ known?!”

“In a weird way, yeah,” I say, an unconscious tiny smile creeping on my mouth. I think the realisation just hit me now, with Luffy saying those words, that we are indeed in some way or another… family.

Zoro watches us, his eyebrows raised in surprise. His eyes flick between me and Luffy, clearly processing the unexpected bond. I just shake my head slightly at him, knowing he’ll probably bring it up later. It’s not like I can avoid the conversation—there’s no running away from him now.

“I wish I was the one who’s cuffed with you, Raya! It’s no fair Zoro’s the one who can spend all the time with you.”

“Trust me, it’s not fun,” Zoro says.

I elbow Zoro and glare at him. In turn, he only looks down at me and teasingly offers a smirk.

As we all begin to sit down, Sanji drags in a humongous tray into our cavern with steaming animal carcasses piled on it. With a swift kick, the tray gracefully twirls and slides, landing perfectly in front of Aragnus’s sat down body.

Aragnus growls out a hum of approval as he begins to dig in, but I look at Sanji with surprise. Sanji shrugs when he notices my questioning stare, a cigarette softly placed between his lips. The end of the cigarette slowly glows with glowing embers in sync to Sanji’s expanding chest.

“Can’t let these dragons starve - else they’d eat us for dinner, my love,” he says. In a hasty effort to change the subject, he nods at the glowing cuff between Zoro and me. “How did that happen?”

“I did it,” a measured masculine voice resounds in the corner. I turn to the sound, and only grit my teeth when my eyes lock onto Law’s. He offers a smirk when he sees my furious expression while coolly walking towards our campfire. The rest of his crew disperse from behind him, eagerly joining us with big grins; Bepo catches my gaze and gives me a sympathetic, yet uncertain, smile.

Sanji frowns at the surplus of Heart members, eyeing them as they begin digging in. “Didn’t know we were having guests.”

Luffy ignores Sanji’s comment, his eyes widening at Law. He shoves his wrist into Law’s face, making the latter scowl and bat his arm away. “Really? Can you cuff me too, Torao? Cuff me!”

“You’re not getting cuffed, Mugiwara. Get away.”

Luffy pouts and crosses his arms. “Why’dya even do it if you’re not gonna do it to me? I wanna join in on the fun.”

“Because,” Law enunciates, brushing past my captain and sitting intentionally right across from me, his eyes glinting at me with a certain kind of mischief, “They were getting on my nerves. I decided to give them a sweet taste of my revenge.”

His lie catches me off guard, and I give him a strange look. I was almost certain this would be the moment he'd spill everything—my true identity, the dark history behind my newly awakened power. But he doesn’t. Instead, he brushes it off as a simple prank, leaving me confused and a little suspicious. Is he planning something, or was this just an unexpected act of kindness? The way the lie slides off his tongue so effortlessly makes me narrow my eyes at him, unsure how to interpret his intentions. The double entendre in his words doesn’t go unnoticed either.

“So, you decided to bind them together?” Robin raises a brow.

Law shrugs, popping a piece of bacon in his mouth. “A harmless prank.”

“Harmless, my ass,” I mutter to myself, making Zoro snort out loud.

Law only smugly cocks his head at me in tandem to biting a piece of toast. A wave of anger pierces through me, seeing him act so nonchalant and unworried. If only I could just sink my teeth into him the same way he’s taking those bites of food.

I shiver aggressively, shaking my head as if trying to throw those awful intrusive thoughts away. What the fuck is happening to me? My own mind is coaxing me to submit to murder.

Zoro, in the corner of his eye, watches me with a frown on his face. I don’t know how long he’s been monitoring me, but it only hits me now that he’s intently keeping an eye on my reactions. But not once this morning have I seen him sheathe his swords to his hip; his hand hasn’t moved from his plate or his thighs and this makes me feel incredibly… out of sorts.

“Where are your weapons?” I mumble quietly, pretending to look at the rest of the camp and the members animatedly talking within it.

I intently watch his face to see if he makes any minute expression on it, but Zoro only shrugs in response. His lashes flutter and shadow over his tan cheeks as he looks down to his empty plate, his calloused fingers stretching across his thigh in idleness.

“I don’t eat with my swords,” he says, giving me a sarcastic eyebrow raise. I scoff at him.

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

He pauses and looks at me, his gaze firm and absolute. “I told you before, Raya. I’m not scared of you.” He leans in slightly, his voice lowering as he continues. “But I have this feeling you’re taking what I’m saying the wrong way, the way you always do.”

Instantly, I take in a sharp breath. My mouth opens and closes, determining on how I should respond to him, and for some reason, I can feel the heat rise to my cheeks as I hold his immovable stare.

Before I can respond, Luffy’s boisterous laughter cuts through the silence. He’s already engrossed in conversation with Usopp, who has finally found his voice after the dragon ride. Their lively banter echoes through the cavern, but Zoro's words still linger in my mind.

“You’re always like this,” Zoro continues, his voice softer now, almost like he’s trying to reason with me. “You overthink things. Sometimes it’s not that deep.”

I scowl at him, the defensiveness rising up before I can stop it. “I’m not overthinking anything,” I retort, but even I can hear how unconvincing I sound.

“Sure,” Zoro replies with a lazy smirk, leaning back slightly. “Whatever you say.”

I turn my head away from Zoro, staring straight in front of me out of pettiness, but instead, my eyes accidentally lock with Law’s, making all of those repressed feelings within me start to coil tighter.

Revenge, another unwanted thought brushes against my mind. No, not revenge – justice. Attack him, fight him, terrify him for your freedom. That’s what I want. That’s what will sate my fury.

Law doesn’t miss my gaze darkening for even a second. He leans his torso over slightly, taking me in, tracking me with those troubled yet sharp eyes.

“I think you and I should talk,” Law steadily says, quiet enough so that it drowns in the midst of other peoples’ animated conversations. I think you and I should talk, before you do something that you’ll regret, he means. Before I fall victim to these vicious thoughts that only appeared when my true form was awakened.

I purse my lips and nod once, but intentionally, I eye the rest of the crew as a reminder that this area isn’t private enough. Law nods, standing up as he brushes crumbs from his jacket, whispering something unintelligible to Bepo before he coolly walks towards the other side of the cavern.

I look at Zoro and, in front of the others, obnoxiously say, “Well, I guess we should go and do some sword stuff.”

The end of his mouth twitches amusedly as he looks at me with a deadpan look. “Yeah. Totally. Can’t wait to do some sword stuff.”

Zoro rises to his knees with a deliberate calm, his eyes not leaving mine as he offers a hand to help me up. I take it, trying not to focus on the warmth of his grip or the way his rough skin contrasts with mine. Once I’m up, he releases me almost immediately, his hand dropping back to his side with a casualness that irritates me more than it should.

We begin walking toward the edge of the cavern, and I can feel the weight of several pairs of eyes on us. Nami and Robin, no doubt amused by the exchange, Luffy probably still sulking about not being involved, and Sanji… well, Sanji is always watching with that intensity he tries to disguise as casual interest. But I don’t dare glance back to confirm; I’m too focused on keeping my composure as we head toward Law.

Law, standing in the shadows at the far end of the cavern, watches our approach with an unreadable expression. The usual smirk he wears is absent, replaced by something more serious. It makes my nerves prickle, a sense of foreboding settling into the pit of my stomach.

I glare at him. “So, are you going to explain what you did to us?”

Law takes a moment to sigh, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose before taking a moment to fully look at the chain that bounds Zoro and I together.

“I wasn’t lying last night. Roronoa, you did fuck up,” Law mutters, taking a step forward to examine the damage. His fingers gently trace over the linkage as he looks up at me. “I was supposed to be bound to you – not to him.”

I laugh out loud, because that’s the only way I can react to hearing this piece of information. “Please, tell me, where did your logic disappear off to when you were brewing up this idiotic plan?”

He glares at me. “Answer me honestly, Raya. If you weren’t bound to Roronoa right now, would you have run away and disappeared from your crew just so that you didn’t have to face your possible doom?”

My laughter dies in my throat, replaced by a cold silence as I stare at Law. His question hangs in the air, heavy and unyielding. It’s as if he’s reached into my mind and pulled out the one thing I’ve been trying to ignore—the gnawing fear that if given the chance, I might just run. Disappear into the shadows to avoid facing whatever monstrous power has awakened inside me.

“Thought so,” Law says quietly, his tone less confrontational and more understanding than I expected. He steps back, giving me space, but the weight of his question still presses down on me.

“That,” an inked finger points at my cuff, “weakens your powers. It keeps you in check, meaning we won’t have accidental God outbursts whenever something mildly unpleasant happens to you. Until I do some more research on your powers and how we can help you from turning into another Tyr, that’s going to stay there as a precaution.”

I glare at him. “So, you’ve basically imprisoned me.”

“If that’s how you want to see it, sure.”

I bristle at this slightly. “Don’t you think you’re being a little bit too dramatic?”

“If you’re volatile now, what would you be like if your full powers are unleashed?” Law counters. There’s a pause where I shift from one foot to another, unsure of how to respond. He continues, frustration evident in his face. “Look, if either of you have any other solutions, then I’m happy to hear them.”

“Could you then at least unbind me?” Zoro intervenes, pointedly looking at the cuff encircling his wrist. “I don’t get why I’m roped into this.”

“You’re roped into this because you decided you couldn’t keep your sticky fingers away while I was in mid-incantation,” Law snaps, his eyes narrowing on Zoro. “I’m not redoing my work, Roronoa. It’s not a permanent spell, and it’d actually be helpful if you could keep an eye on things. Just give me a few days to learn more about Kozuki’s awakening, and all of this will be done and dusted.”

Before Zoro can open his mouth, Law turns his attention to me, his gaze piercing me with sincerity. “One of Tyr’s evident mistakes was not learning of his bloodline, of where all his power even originated from. It’d be wise if you did some research on your past, though I know that idea pains you. But the faster we figure this out, the easier you’ll have it.”

I narrow my eyes at Law, the weight of his words settling over me like a heavy shroud. Research on my past? The idea of delving into that unknown, murky territory is as appealing as walking barefoot on shards of glass. But the reality of the situation is unavoidable—if I don’t take control of this power, it will control me, and I’ll be no better than the monsters we’ve been fighting against.

“I hate that you’re right,” I admit, the bitterness in my voice unmistakable. “But I’ll do it. Still, that doesn’t mean I’m okay with being treated like a ticking time bomb.”

Law nods, his expression softening slightly. “I don’t like it either, Kozuki. But this is the safest way for now. I’ll do everything I can to help you figure this out.”

Zoro, still looking less than thrilled with the situation, tries to cross his arms but tugs me aggressively to his chest. Flustered, he steps away from me, ignoring my irritated expression, and gives Law a hard stare. “Look, just make sure you follow through, Torao. I’m not interested in playing babysitter any longer than I should.”

Law rolls his eyes but doesn’t rise to the bait. “Believe me, I’m as eager as you are to resolve this.”

I look between the two of them, feeling a strange mix of gratitude and irritation. As much as they’re both insufferable in their own ways, I know they’re trying to help. And as much as I hate to admit it, I need their help.

“Let’s get this over with,” I mutter, turning to leave. I tug on my wrist connecting to Zoro's, making him grumble out a string of curses. Law watches us go, his expression unreadable, but I can sense the wheels turning in his mind. He’s not done with whatever plan he’s concocting, and that thought makes me uneasy.

But then, I pause in my footsteps without thinking; Zoro yelps and only barely steps away before he collides into me. I turn around and look at Law, my face set very serious.

“Law,” I mumble. He looks up from his thoughts and raises a questioning brow. I clear my throat, averting my gaze. “Thank you… for, um… not outing me to the group today. You could’ve done that and made it a lot easier for yourself, but you didn’t. I… appreciate it.”

Law’s expression softens, and he gives a slight nod, his usual cocky demeanour tempered by a rare glimpse of sincerity. “I’m not here to make your life harder, Raya,” he says quietly. “I just want to make sure we all get through this in one piece.”

I hold his gaze for a moment longer, then turn away, pulling Zoro along with me.

“Kozuki,” Zoro suddenly bites out. I look up, surprised in hearing the tenseness in his voice.

“What is it?” I stare at him, noticing the way his brows are furrowed and his mouth pursed deeply into a frown. I sigh and look down at our cuffs. “It’ll be temporary, Roronoa. It’s shitty, I know—"

“It’s not that,” he quickly cuts me off, his gaze locked on me with dead seriousness. “I need to piss.”

It’s the afternoon – and a hell of an afternoon it is. The clanking of metal against stone fills another cavern, a steady rhythm as Zoro sets up his gym equipment. The dumbbells, barbells, and various other heavy objects he loves to train with are neatly laid out, but the usual calm of his workout space is anything but. I sigh internally and feel Zoro unintentionally yank on my wrist again, almost toppling me over to the floor.

“Do you have to do this right now?” I hiss through gritted teeth, frustration already bubbling over me as Zoro on me tugs once again, making me almost dive headfirst into the cement. “I’m not really in the mood to be amputated today, you know.”

“If I don’t, I’ll lose my edge,” Zoro replies, his tone dismissive as he grabs a dumbbell with his free hand. His muscles flex, the veins in his forearm standing out as he starts his reps. It’s a sight that would have been impressive—if it wasn’t so fucking inconvenient.

I try to remain still, but every time Zoro moves, the chain binding us jerks taut, sending a sharp jolt through my arm and pulling me slightly off balance. It’s as if the chain has a life of its own, tugging me this way and that with every flex of his muscles. The constant, unpredictable yanking makes it impossible to find any sense of equilibrium, and the frustration builds inside me like a kettle about to boil over. Each time he lifts the dumbbell, I’m dragged along in a clumsy dance, my patience wearing thin as I fight the urge to scream and knock the weight out of his hands.

“Do you always have to be so intense?” I mutter, shifting uncomfortably as Zoro reaches for a heavier weight, his muscles straining with the effort.

He doesn’t even look at me, his gaze locked on some invisible point ahead as he methodically lifts the dumbbell, his biceps bulging with each slow, controlled movement. The sheer focus in his eyes is almost intimidating, as if nothing exists except the iron in his hand and the sweat on his brow.

“Can’t you just stand still for an hour?” he finally replies, his voice steady, barely winded, as if he’s unaware of—or perhaps indifferent to—how much he’s disrupting my balance with every lift.

“Easier said than done,” I grumble under my breath, struggling to find my footing as Zoro powers through his routine. His focus is unbreakable, each lift executed with precise control, his muscles flexing and unflexing with mechanical efficiency. Meanwhile, I’m left to wrestle with the constant tugging of the chain, the metal links clinking with every one of his movements.

I grit my teeth, determined to stay as still as possible, but it’s like trying to stand on shifting sand. Every time Zoro hoists the weight, the force of it sends a jolt through the chain, yanking me off balance. My feet shuffle awkwardly, trying to keep up with the relentless push and pull, but it’s no use. The more I fight it, the more my frustration builds, the irritation bubbling under my skin like a pot about to boil over.

Seconds stretch into minutes, each one dragging on longer than the last, my irritation growing with every lift, every clink of the chain, every muscle that Zoro flexes without a care in the world. I can feel my temper fraying, the last threads of patience snapping one by one until finally, I can’t take it anymore.

“Would you just stop!” I snap, my voice echoing off the cavern walls, the words bursting out of me with all the pent-up anger I’ve been trying to hold back. I yank my arm back in a futile attempt to steady myself. Zoro grunts at me pulling away from him, his torso ever so slightly being pulled towards my direction, yet not enough where I could make a convincing point.

Zoro pauses, lowering the weights with a huff. He looks up and glares at me. “If you keep complaining, this is going to take forever. Just deal with it.”

I narrow my eyes at him, mocking his condescending tone. “Maybe if you weren’t so damn single-minded about this, we wouldn’t have a problem.”

Zoro’s eyes finally meet mine, and there’s a flicker of something dangerous in them, a darkness pooling in his grey iris. The sweat across his tan skin reacts with his mossy green hair, allowing it to lay matted and wet across his forehead. I can’t help it – I can’t look away from him, the way the muscles in his jaw tense as his gaze darkens, locking on me with such intensity.

A bitter smirk curls at the corner of his lips, a teasing glint in his eye as he slowly lifts his free arm. The movement is deliberate, almost taunting, and I can’t help but watch as his biceps flex with effortless strength. His rough, calloused fingers rake through his hair, pushing the damp strands back into place with a careless grace.

“You’re really pushing it, Kozuki.”

“No, you’re pushing it,” I childishly bite out.

“C’mon. You haven’t even seen half of it.”

I scoff out and raise my brow at him. “Is that supposed to scare me?”

Zoro’s smirk is slow and deliberate, curving with a dangerous edge that sends a shiver through me. His gaze locks onto mine with an intensity that makes my breath catch, a look so charged it silences any retort I had prepared. “You really want to know?” he murmurs, his voice low, almost taunting.

Before I can respond, Zoro drops the weight with a resounding thud, the sound reverberating through the cavern. His movements are fluid, every gesture calculated as he turns toward me. In one swift motion, his arm wraps around my waist, and suddenly, I’m lifted off the ground, my breath hitching in surprise as I’m drawn tightly against his chest.

“Wait, what the fuck—” I gasp, my hand instinctively reaching out to steady myself, fingers clutching at the firm muscle of his shoulder. But Zoro doesn’t hesitate, his grip strong and steady as he shifts me effortlessly, pulling me closer until my feet leave the ground completely. The way he holds me with such ease and power leaves me momentarily speechless, my pulse racing as the reality of our proximity sinks in.

“So eager to complain,” he teases, his voice a deep, rich rumble that seems to resonate through my entire body. “I figured I’d put you to good use.” His words are laced with amusement, but there’s a challenge in his tone, one that stirs something inside me I hadn’t anticipated. He begins to lift me higher, his muscles flexing with every powerful movement. The sensation of being pushed upward, with him guiding me so effortlessly, is dizzying. Then, just as smoothly, he draws me back down, bringing my face dangerously close to his. The warmth of his breath grazes my skin, the closeness of him overwhelming, almost intoxicating.

“You’re such a brute,” I hiss, trying to muster some irritation, but my voice betrays me, coming out softer and more breathless than I intended. Zoro’s smirk deepens, his eyes gleaming with a knowing amusement as he senses my wavering resolve. He lifts me again with the same ease, his hold unyielding. Sweat glistens on his skin, tracing shimmering paths over the defined contours of his muscles as he moves. His gaze remains fixed on mine, a playful light in his eyes as he watches me struggle to maintain composure.

Realising I’m outmatched, I allow my body to relax, surrendering to his strength. He manoeuvres me with such confidence, as though I weigh nothing, and the way he handles me sends a thrill through me, awakening something deep within that I can’t quite explain.

Without warning, Zoro pulls me back toward him, his movement gentle yet firm, until our faces are just millimetres apart. His breath brushes against my cheeks, warm and teasing, sending a delicious shiver down my spine. His eyes, sharp and focused, flick from my lips back to my eyes, mischief dancing in his gaze. “You’re a lot lighter than my usual weights,” he murmurs, his voice dropping to a husky whisper that wraps around me like a caress. “Maybe I should add some difficulty.”

With that, his fingers begin a slow, deliberate exploration of my waist, tracing the curves of my body as if committing each one to memory. His touch is light but intentional, his hands gliding over my hips with a lingering caress before he suddenly shifts his grip. A surprised yelp escapes me as his arm slides lower, his strong fingers gripping my thigh as he lifts me higher against him. The movement pulls me flush against his chest, the solid strength of his body pressing into mine, and I can’t help the way my breath quickens in response. My legs dangle helplessly for a moment before instinct takes over, and I wrap them around his waist, desperate for balance and a semblance of control that seems to be slipping away.

“Put me down, or so help me Gods,” I snap, but my voice betrays me, a sultry edge creeping into my words that I know he can hear. His smirk widens, the satisfaction clear on his face as his voice drops to an intimate whisper. He pushes me upward, positioning my midriff against his face, his calloused fingers tracing the tender skin beneath my thighs with a touch that is both possessive and gentle.

“Why?” he murmurs, his breath warm against me. “You’re finally being useful. Besides, you seem to be enjoying this.”

I hate that he’s right. I hate the way my body reacts to his touch, the way my pulse quickens as his muscles shift and flex beneath my hands. The way he holds me, the firm yet tender strength of his grip, the heat radiating from his body—it’s all doing something to me that makes it hard to think, let alone protest.

“I-I’m not…” I stammer, but the tremor in my voice reveals the truth, the unsteady rhythm of my words making it clear. I clear my throat, struggling to keep my expression neutral, to fight against the overwhelming sensations that have taken hold of me. “I’m not feeling anything.”

Zoro chuckles, a low, rumbling sound that seems to vibrate through his chest and into me, connecting us in a way that feels almost tangible. He pulls me down again, this time bringing his face so close to mine that I can see the faint flecks of darkness in his stormy grey eye. The intensity in his gaze is almost too much to bear, a magnetic pull that draws me in even as I try to resist. “Liar,” he whispers, his breath mingling with mine, a quiet challenge that sends another shiver down my spine.

His hand slides up my back, his fingers pressing into the small of my spine, urging me even closer until the space between us is nearly non-existent. The heat of his body seeps into mine, his presence overwhelming in a way that makes it impossible to focus on anything but him. I can feel every inch of him now, every subtle shift of his muscles, every breath he takes. It’s overpowering, this closeness, this connection that seems to vibrate in the very air around us.

“You’re such an ass,” I mutter, but the words lack any real force. My pulse pounds in my ears as I take in the details of his face—the way the scar over his closed eye stands out in a lighter shade against his golden skin, the sweat that glistens on his neck, tracing elegant lines down over his defined collarbones and disappearing beneath the dark fabric of his shirt. His presence is magnetic, impossible to ignore, and I can feel myself being drawn deeper into his pull, unable to resist.

Zoro’s grip on me tightens, the possessiveness in his touch growing as his breath hitches slightly when I shift against him. My fingers dig into his shoulder, gripping him as firmly as he holds me, as if we’re both clinging to each other, caught up in a moment that feels charged with energy.

“Are you done complaining now?” he murmurs, his voice rougher than before, a low growl that sends a thrill through me. His breath fans across my face as he speaks, the closeness amplifying every sensation, every emotion swirling between us. He tilts his head towards me, his lips only a mere fraction away from mine. “’Cause I can deal a lot more damage if you push me.”

I open my mouth to retort, but the words falter as I feel his grip tighten just a fraction more, his body pressing closer to mine, enveloping me in his warmth. The room around us seems to shrink in size, filled with an unbreathable heat that consumes us both whole.

But just as quickly as it began, Zoro suddenly releases me, lowering me back to the ground with a smoothness that leaves me stunned. The absence of his touch is startling, a cold shock to my system, and I have to fight the powerful urge to reach out, to pull him back and demand an explanation for the storm he’s just stirred within me.

“Let’s get back to training,” he says, his tone more controlled now, though there’s still a hint of that dangerous edge lingering in his voice. He averts his gaze away from me, staring at a spot in the wall across from him.

I silently nod, trying to ignore the lingering heat in my veins as we return to his workout routine. But as Zoro picks up his weights again, I can’t help but feel like something has shifted between us—something that can’t be easily ignored.

And as much as I hate to admit it, I’m not entirely sure I want to ignore it anymore.

I try to shake off the feeling, to push away the frankly baffling mix of sensations swirling inside me. The irritation, the heat, the connection that seems to hang between us like a thick fog. I know I should just let it go, move on, and pretend that nothing happened. But I can’t. Not with the way Zoro’s gaze flickers toward me every so often, not with the way his muscles tense with each movement as if he’s trying to keep himself in check.

An hour later, the clanking of weights eventually slows, then stops altogether. I look over to see Zoro wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, his eyes still glued to the floor in that usual contemplative way of his. I can’t help but notice the slight tremor in his hand as he sets the dumbbells down, the brief pause as if he’s weighing something in his mind.

“Alright,” Zoro finally says, breaking the silence with a gruffness that belies the uncertainty I can see in his eyes. “I’m done for now. Let’s find a place to crash.

I nod, grateful for the chance to escape the suffocating atmosphere of the cavern. The chain between us rattles as we gather our things, the sound a constant reminder of the bond that keeps us tethered—both literally and figuratively. We move through the dimly lit tunnels in silence, our footsteps echoing against the cold stone walls. Neither of us speaks, but the quiet isn’t entirely uncomfortable. It’s more like an uneasy truce, a temporary pause in the ongoing battle of wills.

The small cubby hole barely has enough room for the two of us. The walls feel like they’re closing in, every breath of mine echoing against the stone as we awkwardly settle in for the night. The chain binding us together makes the situation even more uncomfortable, the metal links clinking with every slight movement.

Zoro lies beside me, his eyes open and his body tense, as if ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. The silence between us is heavy, filled with the unuttered sentiments we’ve exchanged in glares and scowls. But despite the discomfort, there’s no real anger left—just an odd sense of acceptance that this is our reality now.

I shift slightly, trying to find a position that doesn’t strain my wrist or press me too closely against Zoro. He’s warm – too fucking warm, actually – his presence a steady reassurance even as it irritates me. The silence stretches on, but it’s not uncomfortable. We’ve said too many apologies in the past, and if I’m being honest, they’ve lost their meaning; now, it’s just about getting through this without driving each other insane.

I’m trying to find sleep, but it eludes me. My mind keeps replaying the events of the day—Law’s words, his insistence on me having to comb through my bitter past, makes me less tired and more agitated.

“You’re thinking too much again,” Zoro murmurs, his voice low and rough from fatigue.

I turn my head slightly to meet his gaze. His eyes are half-lidded, but there’s an alertness in them that tells me he’s not as close to sleep as he appears.

“Hard not to,” I mutter, shifting slightly to ease the stiffness in my neck. “It’s been a long day. And having to sleep like this isn’t helping. In fact, this whole setup's fucking ridiculous.”

“I mean, you’re making it worse by moving around so much,” Zoro grunts, his voice rough with fatigue.

“I can’t help it,” I retort, frustration bubbling up as I try to wiggle free. “You’re taking up all the space.”

“There’s only so much space to take,” he bites back.

I huff, annoyed but also too tired to keep arguing. Instead, I settle for glaring at the darkness, my body tense as I try to find some semblance of comfort. The silence stretches on, thick and heavy, but I can feel Zoro’s presence beside me like a physical weight.

After what feels like an eternity, Zoro finally breaks the silence, his voice low and rough from disuse. “You ever think about your family?”

I blink, caught off guard by the sudden question. Family isn’t something I talk about often, and certainly not with someone like Zoro. But there’s something in his tone that makes me pause, makes me consider answering honestly.

I turn to him. “Why the question?”

“I would’ve told you earlier, but I didn’t know you were a Kozuki for a while. I’ve met some of your family, you know.”

I purse my lips and search his gaze, but he doesn’t offer me any sort of reaction. I huff and look up at the dark ceiling, my free hand resting across my chest, fingers thrumming out of agitation.

“Law did mention that you met them,” I say. He doesn’t respond; instead, he closely watches me, as if wordlessly telling me to continue. I clear my throat. “Hiyori gave you the Enma, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, she did,” Zoro admits.

I purse my lips and train my eyes on the ceiling. Hiyori. The sole reason I regret leaving Wano; the girl who gave me reason to keep on living whilst I was back in that confined world with their confined beliefs of what women can do with their lives. My heart pulses sourly; thinking of what she must feel like, what she’s doing… Would I ever see her again? Even now, with my unpredictable awakening, those chances are growing slimmer by the moment.

“She…” My voice cracks slightly, making me quickly clear my throat as if to cover up the poor blunder within my defences. “She must have trusted you very much to give you a piece of our heritage.”

Zoro remains silent for a moment, his gaze softening as he watches me wrestle with my thoughts. I can tell he’s not the type to pry, but there’s a genuine curiosity in his eyes, a need to understand. When he finally speaks, his voice is gentler, lacking the usual roughness.

“Hiyori’s strong,” he says simply. “She didn’t just give me Enma because she trusted me. She did it because she believed it was the right thing to do, to protect Wano.”

I nod, my thoughts drifting back to my time home. The memories are hazy, but they’re laced with a bittersweet nostalgia. I can still see Hiyori’s determined face, the way she carried herself with grace despite the weight of her responsibilities. It’s strange to think that she’s still there, carrying on the legacy of our family, while I’m here, far from home and bound by chains—both literal and metaphorical.

“She’s always been strong,” I murmur, my voice barely above a whisper. “Stronger than I ever was. I admired that about her. She would stay, even if it meant she would fuck up her life and her dreams along with it. I… Well, I run away from things a lot.”

“Oden ran away a lot,” Zoro mentions. “That’s what I heard, anyway.”

I laugh out loud. “See, I’d normally be upset with a comparison to Oden, but I guess that’s pretty accurate.”

I pause and look at him, a thought flashing across my mind. Enma’s still broken into bits; that being completely my fault. “I promise I’ll get Enma fixed soon, though… I think facing that sword had been a nightmare of mine for a while. She holds a lot of…bad memories, but I think that she might be the key to finding more about my past.”

Zoro purses his lips and looks down as if he’s about to say something. He hesitates for a moment longer before finally opening his mouth. “Don’t worry about it. Honestly, I don’t think I can face that sword right now, anyway.”

I raise a brow and look at him, completely taken off guard. Zoro’s not the type to just admit something like that. “What? What do you mean?”

He sighs and avoids my gaze, shifting his head toward the black ceiling.

“Sometimes… I feel like Enma brings the worst out of me. It feels like if I slip up in my mental defences, I could be consumed by her power and then… turn into someone… really evil.”

Zoro’s admission catches me off guard, and for a moment, I’m at a loss for words. The Zoro I’ve come to know is so sure of himself, so unyielding in his strength and resolve, that hearing him express doubt—especially about something as significant as Enma—is jarring.

“I didn’t think you’d ever admit something like that,” I finally say, my voice softening despite myself. “I guess even you have your limits.”

His gaze flickers to mine, a shadow of vulnerability passing through his eyes before he masks it with his usual stoicism. “Everyone does,” he replies gruffly. “Even someone like me. But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna give up. I just need to get stronger—to control it, not let it control me.”

I nod, understanding more than I’d like to admit. The fear of being consumed by power is something I’m all too familiar with. “It’s not easy, is it? Facing something that could potentially destroy you.”

“No, it’s not,” Zoro agrees, his voice low. “But it’s the only way. If I let fear hold me back, I’ll never achieve my goals. And I can’t afford that.”

For a few minutes, we both remain silent, both savouring the words the other has said, our minds beating against the dark shadows that try to consume us within the night.

A realisation crosses my mind, and before thinking about it, I turn to Zoro.

“You’ve never told me about your family, you know,” I quietly mention. I look at him hesitantly. “Is there a reason?”

Zoro's expression shifts slightly, his gaze turning inward as if he's considering something he's not used to sharing. For a moment, I think he might brush off the question, but then he speaks, his voice low and measured.

“I don’t really have much of a family,” he begins, his eyes still focused somewhere distant. “At least, not in the way most people think of it. I grew up in a dojo. My sensei, he took me in when I was a kid. And obviously Kuina.”

My lips curl upwards in hearing that familiar name. Obviously Kuina. She was the rock that supported us both; she was there for us in two entirely different ways, yet, still, she had made such a similar impact.

“Obviously Kuina,” I repeat with a smile. I curiously search for his eyes within the deep darkness of the cavern. “So… you had no other family?”

Zoro hesitates for a moment, his gaze flickering between mine and the darkness of the cavern. It’s clear that this is a topic he doesn’t delve into often—if ever. Finally, he sighs, as if deciding that there’s no point in hiding it from me.

“No,” he says quietly. “Not really. My parents died when I was young. Too young to even remember their faces. After that, I was on my own for a while. I don’t really remember how long, just that I had to survive.”

I listen in silence, my chest heavy with the weight of his words. His story is all too similar to mine. While I had more family than him, I left Wano all too quickly. I only had Gramps and Kuina. Only two strong currents in my life, one of them having passed away far too quickly.

My throat grows thicker as I think about Gramps. That old man – that loveable pain in my ass… who would’ve known he would’ve been the target of something so sinister. I hope he’s okay. Gods, I just hope he’s still alive.

I clear my throat, shaking those dark thoughts away. I take in Zoro’s softened appearance, his gaze taking me in like a wide-eyed German Shepherd who only just remembered how to become vulnerable.

“And now you’re here; ‘Pirate Hunter Zoro.’”

“I guess.”

“Don’t you think that nickname’s a little too outdated for you? I mean, you’re part of a pirate crew.”

He shrugs, flexing his sore arm. “I never really cared about all of that.”

I scoff. “You should! I’ve got some killer nicknames for you, you know.”

“Oh yeah?” Zoro smirks, his gaze lingering on mine for a little longer than it should. “Give me a list, then. I’m interested.”

“Okay, so the first one’s Marimo,” I say with a straight face.

Zoro’s face falls into a scowl, tugging on his cuff so that I’m instantly pulled towards him. “Ha ha ha, you’re so funny, Raya. You should turn into a part time clown.”

“And then the next one’s Sword-mouth. Get it? Cause you have a sword—”

“That’s fucking bad.”

“Okay, okay, what about Bullhead? That’s my favourite.”

“Bullhead?” Zoro repeats with a sceptical raise of his brow. “You’re really reaching with that one.”

I smirk, feeling a surge of playful energy course through me. “Oh, come on, it suits you. Stubborn, always charging headfirst into things… It’s perfect.”

Zoro rolls his eyes, but there’s a hint of amusement in his gaze. “You really like pushing my buttons, don’t you?”

“Maybe,” I admit with a mischievous grin. “It’s just so easy to get a rise out of you. You’re like a bull seeing red. Maybe I should consider making a red cape for you.”

He snorts, shaking his head. “You’re asking for it, Kozuki.”

“Oh, am I?” I say, leaning in just a little closer, my tone teasing. “And what are you gonna do about it, Bullhead?”

Zoro’s eyes narrow, the playful glint in them taking on a sharper edge. He doesn’t respond immediately, instead, he lets the silence stretch, the tension between us growing thicker with each passing second. Then, in one swift movement, he grabs my wrist—the one bound to his by the cuff—and yanks me toward him.

My breath catches in my throat as he pulls me down onto the makeshift bed, his grip on my wrist firm but not painful. He’s over me in an instant, his body hovering just above mine, his presence overwhelming in the confined space. The chain between us clinks softly, the only sound besides the rapid beating of my heart.

“You’ve been pushing me all day,” Zoro murmurs, his voice low and rough. His eyes, darkening with something far more intense than irritation, lock onto mine. “I’m thinking maybe it’s time you see what happens when I push back.”

But before I can respond, Zoro shifts his grip, grabbing my other hand and pinning it above my head along with the chained one. His strength is undeniable, and the way he’s holding me down, with just enough pressure to make it clear that he’s in control, sends a thrill through me that I can’t quite explain.

He lowers his head, his breath hot against my neck as he murmurs, “Why don’t we think of nicknames for you, huh?”

My pulse quickens, a heat rising in my chest that has nothing to do with the close quarters we’re in. I can feel the roughness of the stone bed beneath me, the coolness of the air on my skin, but all of it fades into the background compared to the weight of Zoro hovering above me, his presence completely overwhelming.

"Nicknames for me?" I murmur, my voice trembling slightly despite my efforts to keep it steady. I try to inject a bit of the usual sarcasm into my tone, but it falls really flat – embarrassingly so. I swallow down my pride as I defiantly look into his gaze. "Like what?"

Zoro smirks, but it’s not the usual cocky grin; this one’s intense, more primal, and it makes me hold in a small breath. His eyes flicker over my face, taking in every detail, every reaction, as if he’s cataloguing it all for some future purpose.

"I’m thinking…" He pauses, his grip on my wrists tightening slightly, just enough to make me aware of the power he holds over me right now. "Something that suits you. Something that captures that fiery temper of yours. Maybe… ‘Spitfire’?"

I scoff, trying to sound unimpressed, but there’s a flutter in my chest at the name. "Spitfire? Really? That’s the best you’ve got?"

He chuckles, the sound low and rough, and it sends a wave of heat through me. "It’s fitting. You’re always spitting fire, whether it’s with your words or your actions. You’ve got somethin’ that could burn anyone who gets too close."

He gently picks up my hand that’s tethered to his, carefully eyeing the bruises that have formed beneath and around the cuff that’s so tightly linked over my skin. “Or… The Whining Witch? Since you love to scream my head off.”

I burst out laughing. “That’s an awful name.”

“Really? I think it’s pretty good.”

“Stick to Spitfire, buddy—"

Without warning, Zoro lowers his head, his lips grazing the bruised skin of my wrist with a feather-light touch. The unexpected tenderness of the gesture catches me off guard, making me bite down on my lower lip to keep from gasping.

His tongue flicks out, tracing the bruise with agonizing slowness, and I feel my legs tense in response. The sensation is electric—a tantalizing blend of pain and pleasure that causes my breath to hitch in my throat. Throughout, his eyes remain locked on mine, never breaking contact, as if he's studying every flicker of emotion, every reaction his touch elicits.

“What are you doing?” I whisper, trying to keep my voice steady, to mask the effect he's having on me.

Zoro doesn’t answer immediately. Instead, he continues his deliberate exploration, his tongue tracing the marks left by the cuffs with a maddening precision. It's as if he’s soothing the pain, but there's something more in the way he touches me—an unspoken claim that lingers beneath the surface, making it clear this is about more than just concern.

When he finally lifts his head, his eyes have darkened, filled with a heat that mirrors the burning sensation spreading through my chest.

His voice, a low, rough murmur, breaks the silence. "I'm making sure you remember who you're dealing with, Spitfire."

The way he says it, the way the nickname rolls off his tongue, sends a jolt of something intense through me. My pulse pounds in my ears, my heart hammering in my chest as his calloused fingers gently stroke the tender spots on my wrist. A part of me wants to push back, to reclaim some measure of control, but another part—a larger, more insistent part—is drawn in by this side of him, captivated by his raw intensity.

Then, without warning, his mouth is on me again, his lips pressing against the sensitive skin of my neck. I gasp, my back arching instinctively as he trails his mouth lower, his teeth grazing just enough to leave me on edge, caught between anticipation and desire.

“Zoro—” I start, but my voice cuts off as his tongue flicks out, teasing the pulse point at the base of my throat. I groan out without the ability to restrain myself, squirming under him, but he holds me steady, his grip unyielding.

“You talk too much,” he whispers, his breath fanning against the wet column of my throat. “Maybe I should find a way to keep that mouth of yours busy.”

His breath is so warm against my skin, his lips so close to mine that I can almost taste him, yet he doesn’t close the distance. Instead, he continues to toy with me, his fingers tracing patterns along my side, his touch light and provokingly slow. His hand slides up, brushing against the curve of my waist, and I can feel the heat pooling in my stomach, desperate for it to be released. Zoro’s eyes are locked on mine, powerful and filled with something that makes it hard to breathe.

He leans in, his mouth hovering just above my collarbone, and I can feel the warmth of his breath against my skin, goosebumps bubbling all over my body in anticipation. My fingers dig into his shoulders, desperate for something to anchor me, but he only smirks, his lips ghosting over my skin without making contact.

“You’re torturing me,” I manage to whisper, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to keep it steady.

“Am I?” he replies, his voice a low, teasing rumble. His hand slides up my back, his fingers tangling in my hair as he pulls me closer. “Or are you just not used to someone who knows how to play the game?”

“You’re such a—” I hiss, yet again, but the words die in my throat as his hand slides up, under my shirt, and his rough fingers brush against the bare skin of my stomach. He smirks against my neck, clearly pleased with the reaction he’s pulling from me. His fingers trail higher, exploring, tracing patterns on my skin that leave me trembling. I should be pushing him away, but all I can think about is how much I want more.

“Calm down, Spitfire,” he murmurs, his voice rough and low. “You’ve gotta learn to be patient.”

And just when I think I can’t take it anymore, when the bound coil between us is so tight it feels like it might snap, something shifts. There’s a soft, metallic clink, a sound that breaks through the haze of desire and pulls me back to reality. Zoro freezes, his head lifting as his eyes flicker down to the source of the sound.

I follow his gaze, my breath catching in my throat as I see it—the Kozuki Coin, the last gift Gramps ever gave me before he was taken away, rattling out of my pocket and onto the ground. The sight of it is like a bucket of cold water, dousing the fire that had been burning so brightly just moments before.

“Oh,” I say, my voice cracking in a mixture of surprise and grief. “That’s…”

The golden coin glints in the dim light, its intricate design catching the eye, and for a moment, neither of us moves. The weight of what it represents settles over me like a heavy shroud, pulling me back from the edge of the precipice I’d been teetering on.

Zoro’s grip on me loosens, his gaze lingering on the coin for a long moment before he looks back at me. The darkness in his eyes has softened, replaced by something more contemplative, more grounded.

I reach down, my fingers brushing against the cool metal as I pick up the coin. The weight of it in my hand is familiar, comforting in a way that nothing else is. I turn it over, tracing the intricate designs with my thumb, and for a moment, I’m lost in the memories it holds.

But then, as my fingers continue to brush over the face of the Kozuki coin, a sharp sensation travels through my hand, as though the coin itself has a pulse—one that syncs with my own heartbeat. My mind starts to blur, the world around me melting away as a tingling sensation runs down my spine.

Suddenly, a loud, metallic clink echoes through the cavern, jerking me back to the present. Before I can process what’s happening, an explosion rips through the air. The blast is so powerful that it sends a shockwave through the small cubbyhole we’re hiding in, causing the walls to shudder and dust to rain down from the ceiling. My heart lurches as I realize it came from my backpack, which had been lying just in front of the cubbyhole.

“What the fuck just happened?” Zoro hisses, wide-eyed and looking alert, his fingers brushing over the empty spot at his hip where his swords usually are. He curses to himself and hastily begins to look around for his weapons, wherever they might be.

But my eyes catch onto something. My fingers reach for the back of Zoro’s hand, trying to pull him back into the moment. “Wait, look,” I whisper.

The force of the explosion knocks the backpack back against the wall, tearing it apart. My belongings scatter across the ground, torn fabric and charred remnants of supplies I’d packed now little more than useless debris. Smoke curls up from the remains, filling the air with the acrid stench of burning.

I stare at the tattered remains in shock, my pulse pounding in my ears. Amidst the destruction, something catches my eye. There, in the centre of the wreckage, untouched by the blast, lies Gramps' forgotten logbook.

The worn leather cover is surprisingly intact, its edges barely singed, standing out starkly against the charred ruins of everything else. My hands tremble as I reach out to pick it up, the familiar weight of it grounding me.

“How?” Zoro mutters in surprise.

“I don’t know…”

With a mixture of confusion and disbelief, I open the book, flipping through the pages. Not a single word is smudged; the ink remains sharp and clear. Even the delicate, brittle paper seems unaffected by the explosion. I turn page after page, searching for any sign of damage, but it’s as if the logbook has been preserved by some kind of magic.

As I continue to flip through, a sudden sharp pain lances through my finger. I yelp, more out of surprise than actual pain, and look down to see a thin cut on the tip of my finger. Blood wells up and smears across the page.

Before I can react, the blood starts to seep into the paper, spreading out in thin, crimson lines. The words on the page blur, shifting and twisting as though they’re being rewritten in blood. The entire page begins to change, darkening until it’s completely red. Then, as if the logbook itself is alive, the transformation spreads like wildfire, turning every page into a deep, dark crimson.

The leather cover follows suit, its familiar texture shifting beneath my fingers. The logbook vibrates in my hands, the edges of the pages curling as they harden, morphing into something else entirely. My eyes widen in shock as the logbook twists and reshapes itself, the leather stretching and smoothing until it forms a hilt—a weapon’s hilt.

My breath catches as I realize what I’m holding. The logbook is no more, replaced by the unmistakable handle of a sword. The leather is supple yet firm under my grip, perfectly fitted to my hand. Etched into the base of the hilt, just where my thumb rests, are the words:

“You weren’t ever much of a reader. Clumsy oaf.”

I stare at the inscription, a lump forming in my throat. Gramps’ familiar scrawl brings a flood of memories crashing down on me, his voice echoing in my mind, teasing and affectionate. But before I can fully process the message, my eyes are drawn to the top of the hilt, where a hollowed-out coin holder gleams in the dim light. The metal is polished, almost as if it’s waiting—waiting for something specific to complete it.

The Kozuki coin in my hand suddenly feels heavy, as if it’s pulling me toward the hilt. Without thinking, I lift the coin and set it into the holder. It clicks into place with a satisfying snap, the metal fitting perfectly as though it was always meant to be there.

The moment the coin settles, the entire hilt seems to come alive. The face of the golden coin begins to shift, the once-familiar emblem of the Kozuki clan dissolving like liquid metal. In its place, a new symbol emerges—a silver emblem of a helmet with a star etched across its screen, gleaming with a cold, almost ethereal light.

Before I can comprehend what’s happening, the coin begins to melt, the silver flowing down the hilt like molten steel. It moves with a purpose, cascading down in shimmering waves, shaping itself into a blade. The transformation is mesmerizing, the metal expanding and stretching, forming into a massive, two-handed longsword.

The sword is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. The blade is a brilliant gold, the metal glowing with an otherworldly light that seems to pulse with energy. It’s enormous, easily as long as I am tall, yet perfectly balanced in my grip. The edge gleams razor-sharp, catching the light and reflecting it in a dazzling array of colours.

I stand there, the sword heavy in my hands, the weight of it grounding me as the realization of what has just happened sinks in. This is no ordinary weapon. It’s a piece of my heritage, a manifestation of the power that’s been lying dormant within me, waiting to be awakened.

Zoro stares at the blade, his eyes wide with shock and something else—something like respect. He doesn’t say anything, but the look on his face says it all. This is a weapon worthy of a warrior, and in this moment, I feel the weight of that responsibility settle on my shoulders.

The sword hums with power, the energy coursing through it resonating with something deep inside me. It’s as if the blade is an extension of my own soul, forged from the very essence of my being. I can feel it, a connection so strong it’s almost overwhelming, and I know, without a doubt, that this weapon was meant for me.

The metal blade hums, its resonance vibrating deep within the recesses of my mind. The sound is a low, pulsing thrum, like the distant rumble of thunder or the echo of a heartbeat. It’s an ancient sound, carrying with it the weight of countless generations, the whispers of those who have come before me. It vibrates through the sword, through my arm, and into my very bones, a steady rhythm that matches the rapid beat of my heart.

At first, the noise is nothing more than unintelligible static, a jumbled mess of sounds that scrape against the edges of my consciousness. It’s like trying to tune an old radio, the signal crackling and popping as it searches for the right frequency. The noise grows louder, more insistent, until it drowns out everything else—the distant echoes of the cavern, the sound of Zoro’s breathing, the pounding of my own heart. All of it fades into the background, swallowed by the static that floods my mind.

And then, through the chaos, I begin to hear something—someone. A voice, distorted and faint, like it’s coming from a great distance or through a wall of water. It’s a voice I’d know anywhere, no matter how garbled or distant it might be.

It’s Gramps.

“Raya—” The word is drawn out, his voice cracking as it forces its way through the noise. There’s a slur to his speech, as if he’s struggling to form the words, like he’s fighting against something—pain, exhaustion, maybe even fear. The sound of it makes my chest tighten, my breath catching in my throat.

“Gramps?” I whisper, my voice trembling as I clutch the hilt of the sword tighter. “Gramps, is that you?”

“Raya… oh gods, Raya!” His voice is raw, frantic, and filled with a desperation that sends a chill down my spine. It’s like he’s drowning, each word a struggle to the surface before being pulled back under. “They… they got me… they… the ink… it’s—”

His words come out in a jumbled mess, fragmented, and broken, as if he’s fighting to stay coherent. The pain in his voice is palpable, and I can hear the faint sound of sobbing, choked, and muffled as though he’s trying to hold it back but failing.

“Gramps, where are you? What’s happening?” I try to keep my voice steady, but it wavers, betraying the panic that’s beginning to creep in. The connection between us feels tenuous, fragile, like a thread that could snap at any moment. I need to hear him, to understand what’s happening, but the words are slipping through my fingers like sand.

“Find Trafalgar Law—” Gramps croaks out, his voice faltering. There’s a long, agonizing pause, and for a moment, I think I’ve lost him, that the connection has been severed. But then he speaks again, his voice weaker, more strained. “Gods, oh Gods, Tell… tell Luffy, too… they’re… they’re all—"

And then it cuts out.

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theheartofone · 1 year ago

Text

Steel in Her Veins, Chapter: Thirty-Eight

Read On: AO3 | Table of Contents | Next Chapter

Characters: Fem!Reader x Roronoa Zoro

Notes: I just graduated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOORAAAAYYY! I'm finally FREE NOW TO WRITE AS MUCH GOBBLEDUPFANFICSASIWANT AND IM SO HAPPY! SIHV is no longer under hiatus ;ppppp (not proofread properly as i was so excited to update everyone on this story hahahahdsjs)

Chapter Thirty-Eight: A Doctor’s Steady Hands

“Is it this one?”

I unhook my head from beneath a curved plane of metal, wiping the machine oil from my face with my sleeve. I examine the mishap of tools in Bepo’s paws, scrambling to keep them all hooked between his claws.

“Uh, yeah, that one,” I say, nodding at the screwdriver with the yellow handle. Bepo carefully flexes his cushioned paw to pluck one out from the other, then proceeds to stuff the rest of the tools – and the equipment box, mind you, in the front pocket of his overalls.

Swiftly, I disappear under the side of what used to be Law’s beloved ship and begin to assess the damage. A soft curse comes out of my mouth, incredulously asking myself how Luffy could have damaged this beautiful piece so badly.

Sighing, I begin dismantling damaged parts with a hard-set scowl indented on my face – a scowl I haven’t been able to get of rid for about a week now. Gramps always used to tease me for being so transparent with my feelings, how I’d always wear my heart on my sleeve – and even thinking back on that memory doesn’t help with sobering up my mood, either.

I sneak a look at Bepo who’s looking incredibly out of place at the makeshift workshop we’ve made for ourselves. He looks down, staring down at his paws with a frown set on his face – almost as if he wants to ask me something but doesn’t know when the right time would be. Guilt pangs in my chest, knowing that Bepo doesn’t know what to do with how I am right now. It’s a pretty big personality shock to him, seeing how much I’ve changed compared from when I was a happy-go-lucky kid; a young tweenager with hope in her eyes, now turned young adult with angry fine lines peppered into her skin. It must have broken whatever pretence he had of me in his head.

Regardless, he still showed up today. Hell, he even offered to be my little work assistant, completely aware of my recent bad temper - still willing to be there for me. It doesn’t help matters that I’m unhelpfully being gossiped about by Usopp to physically anyone he could talk to.

‘I don’t know, I’m kinda worried, ya know?’ Usopp mutters not-too-secretively in the bullseye centre of our temporary camp. ‘Ever since Zoro stormed out of that weird lake magic, they’ve both been acting off…’

‘And not to mention, ever since she turned into that scary Luffy form, she’s been so different,’ Usopp urges. ‘I don’t know if we can trust her from exploding into that-that… THING again. WAAA, I’M SCARED!’

Nami slaps him on the back of his neck, the sound ricocheting against the jagged stalactite ceiling as she eyes him down, anger in her eyes. ‘Oh, shut up, will you? Raya’s still Raya, and she’s one of us. Get that into that thick skull of yours.’

“Yo, Raya!” Franky’s voice echoes from a few miles ahead of me. His large body is somehow perfectly cramped beneath the belly of the Polar Tang, his fists slamming into the metal simultaneously as his head twists 180 degrees towards me. “We’re finally working together, huh? I can’t lie to you; it’s making me feel hella excited!”

I don’t know how he managed to do it, but a surprised laugh breaks out from my mouth; I didn’t know I meant so much to him, it almost makes me feel bad for not working with him sooner.

“Me too,” I say whilst my hands get busy removing each screw from the disfigured plane of metal. “I’m sorry we haven’t done this sooner, Frank.”

He rolls his eyes at me and bats a mechanical hand with a grease cloth clamped over it. “Are ya kidding me? You’ve been through hell and back, Raya. Take it easy. I’ve got an insane number of blueprints to work with you soon.”

I shake my head, turning back onto my partition of the work. He’s too forgiving, sometimes. Too carefree… I wish I was like that.

“Did I just imagine things?” A cool voice reverberates behind Bepo and I. “Did Raya’s face finally do something other than scowl?”

I twist my head so fast I hit my head against the ship, scowling at the figure who made me jump about eighty feet out of my own skin. Law looks down at me with a sly smile twitching at the ends of his mouth, his tattooed arms folded together against his chest.

“No, there it is again,” he continues. “That scowl. I must’ve imagined things.”

“C’mon Law, don’t tease her.” Bepo sighs.

Law turns to stare at his first mate, his mouth slightly ajar. He quickly closes it again, noticing I’ve been smirking at him like a kid who just got some well-deserved payback. “Well, you’ve never ordered me around before.”

I furiously rub at the sore spot on my head, still giving him a shit-eating grin, before my eyes lower to his clothes. Blue work overalls overlay a white shirt on his torso, a huge pocket resting at his belly. I raise a brow, not expecting anyone besides Franky and Bepo to be working with me today.

“Did I mess the memo? I didn’t know we were roleplaying as mechanics today.” My lips twitch into a faint smirk, making Law dismissively scowl at me.

“Well, I prefer to be around my possessions from now on. Since, you know, the last time I trusted you with one, you’d engaged with some more… interesting excursions,” he snaps.

That made me shut right up. I turn around and get busy, ignoring the heat growing on my face.

Bepo eyes the both of us with suspicion. “What? What was that supposed to mean? Law?”

Before Law can wave him off, another voice enters the workshop cavern with a tinge of irritation laced in his words.

“Oi, Trafalgar. Where you want me to put these?”

My heart instantly stops from hearing that cursed voice. I can just tell by his footsteps that they’re his. Fuck.

I don’t look around, pretend to be all cool and nonchalant while I’m actually screaming inside, but no one can excuse the fumbling my fingers are doing, my hand unable to unscrew a section I easily did a few moments ago.

Law faintly turns his head and side-eyes the samurai with a raised brow. “Why are you shouting, Roronoa? We can hear you just fine.”

I breathe in shallowly, feeling a minute sense of fear from his presence. My eyes train on the plane of metal above me, not daring to look in his direction.

‘You don’t scare me, Kozuki.’

You don’t scare me, Kozuki. It rings in my head constantly, even when my eyes grow heavy, my mind startled awake, in one of the dragon’s sleeping holes.

You don’t scare me, Kozuki. But you should be scared of me. I grit my teeth, jaw clenching then unclenching. That’s what he meant, right? He’s threatening me.

“You roped me into bein’ your work slave, this is what you’ll get,’ Zoro retorts, his eye piercing Law’s. Law only smirks in response and rests his frame against his tattered ship.

“No brain, only brawn. I’m not surprised,” Law smoothly bites back. I choke out a laugh, yet immediately shut up when I see Zoro’s eye drink in my crouched frame.

I quickly get back to work, my fingers deftly peeling off the unscrewed plane of metal. There’s an odd silence between all three of them, and I can just tell that Zoro’s still pinned his lion-like gaze on me.

“Are you just going to stare with your mouth wide open,” Law remarks, his feet suspiciously stationing themselves over my crouched body. “Or are you going pass those boxes to Frank?”

I hear Zoro bristle, seeming to be taken off guard. "You’re making things up," he grumbles, though the fluster in his voice betrays him. He finally shifts his gaze from me and turns his attention to the boxes at his feet, nudging one of them with his boot.

"Could've fooled me," Law replies, the smirk never leaving his face. There's a flicker of amusement in his eyes as he watches Zoro struggle to find a retort.

Zoro’s jaw tightens, and for a moment, it looks like he's about to snap back with something sharp. But instead, he just exhales heavily through his nose and lifts one of the boxes as if it's nothing. "Whatever. You could’ve picked someone else for this," he mutters, more to himself than anyone else.

As he starts walking towards Franky, I can't help but glance at him from the corner of my eye. There’s something different in the way he carries himself today, an edge to his movements that makes my heart pound just a bit faster. It’s not fear—not exactly. It's something else, something furiously too intimate to be just anger.

"Don't drop those, Roronoa. We don’t have spares," Law continues to mock, earning another jaw-tick from Zoro.

As his shadow becomes more and more smaller, I finally let out the strained breath I’ve been holding, my hands a little steadier now. But, still, the weight of his presence lingers, those same tan muscles my hands stroked over being a mere few steps away makes it harder to concentrate.

"Well, this is cozy," Law says, his voice low as he crouches down closely, his eyes flickering with mischief. "Maybe we should do this more often."

I shoot him a look, trying to suppress the small smile tugging at my lips. I skid the plane of damaged metal across the rocky floor, thrusting it with enough force to hit it against his thick-soled boot. "Don’t push it, Trafalgar," I mutter, though the corners of my mouth betray my nonchalance.

In all of a sudden, Bepo crouches next to Trafalgar and imploringly looks at me. “Look… Raya. Can we please talk?” He whispers, his eyes nervously shifting towards Franky’s direction to make sure he’s not paying attention. His gaze flickers over to Zoro, who finds purchase on a rocky crevice right in the centre of the workshop, his arms folding to his chest tensely, tanned muscle flexing. I watch him intently, realising that he looks to be asleep - almost as if he’s taken the perfect chance to doze off. A bit too much of a perfect chance, in my opinion.

I sigh, rubbing the raggedy cloth against my oil-stained cheek as I look away. I knew it, of course, that this conversation was inevitable. Bepo, knowing the entire truth – and Law, in direct extension – were both biding their time to gauge me out for more information.

I hand Bepo the screwdriver, silently gesturing for the small wrench that prods out of his belly-pocket. Impatiently, Law quickly picks it out and deposits it in my hand before Bepo even realises what’s happening.

I don’t know what comes over me but when I look, and really look at my childhood friend’s desperate eyes, I soften my tone.

“Of course, we can,” I mumble, my eyes lowering, avoiding his deeply troubled gaze.

“Keep working,” Law mutters lowly. His eyes train on Franky who once in a while looks over to compare his progress with mine. Zoro’s eyes are still closed, his breathing paced, but there’s still something suspicious about the way he’s holding himself too tensely for my liking.

I turn my head to the millions of nuts and bolts I’ll have to begin laboriously undoing, sighing inwardly. I love workmanship, but man, sometimes it can be boring.

“Keep talking, Bepo,” Law continues.

Bepo fiddles with his work shirt, looking down with a frown on his face. There’s a small beat of silence, the only sounds made are from Franky slicing a metal piece with his laser eyes, before Bepo looks back up at me.

“What happened, Raya?” He swallows, searching for the right way to word the questions that hungrily race through his head. He curses a little to himself. “G-god, that’s an open ended question, I know, but… so much has happened, and now you’re part of Luffy’s crew? Why was– well, Gramps targeted? And-and… what the hell did you transform into before?”

I pause, letting Bepo's questions hang in the air. My fingers keep working, twisting the small wrench, though my mind is racing faster than my hands. The questions he’s asked are the ones I’ve been dreading, but also the ones I knew I couldn’t avoid forever. They’re the kind of questions that dig deep, uncovering layers of the past that I’ve buried under years of anger, fear, and guilt.

I can feel Law's gaze on me, and I know he’s just as curious, though he’s better at hiding it. Franky seems to have disappeared in the pursuit of more materials in a different cavern, leaving a different type of silence, one more threatening, in his wake. Even Zoro’s steady breathing, despite his seemingly relaxed state, feels like a pressure pushing me towards answers I’m not sure I’m ready to give.

But Bepo deserves the truth. Maybe they all do.

I clear my throat softly, choosing my words with care. "It’s… a lot. Look, when I was a kid, I had no idea what was really going on; I just knew that every time the Cp-0 came knocking on our door, we had to relocate to a different island and build up our workshop again. Gramps… he knew things, had secrets that I didn’t understand back then that I think I’m slowly uncovering. He tried to protect me, but in the end… He got taken."

I can feel the weight of their attention, even though no one’s directly looking at me. Law’s quiet demeanour, Zoro’s stillness, Bepo’s concerned eyes—they’re all listening, even if they’re trying to be subtle about it.

“That’s the same thing that happened to-”

“Penguin, I see,” Bepo finishes Law sentence, his mouth pursed into a fuzzy, sombre line.

I nod, playing with my fingers. "As for why I’m with Luffy now… I didn’t plan it. I was trying to stay low, to avoid getting involved in anything that could draw attention to me. But things don’t always go as planned. Luffy… well, you know how he is. He promised me that we’d go finding Gramps if I did join him.”

Bepo looks like he’s putting all the pieces together, his eyes searching the tattered ship for answers. Distantly, his voice comes out, slightly uncertain.

“So, that’s why Law went to ask Luffy for an alliance.”

I nod again, not knowing what else to say.

Bepo nods, slowly, trying to process my words, but I can see he’s still deeply troubled. His gaze flickers to the metal I’m working on, then back to me. “But why the alias? Why are you hiding yourself from them?”

I grit my teeth, my eyes trained to a stray bolt, my sentences coming out in quick-paced bullet points. “I don’t want to be known by that name anymore. I hate it. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

Law quirks up a brow. “Quite the opposite, Raya. You know that could put them in danger, right? If they’re not prepared with what’s coming after you, it could be incredibly detrimental.”

I pause. He’s right, of course. I’ve been so focused on hiding, on keeping my past buried, that I hadn’t fully considered the consequences of keeping the truth from them.

I push that thought away and my resolve tightens. “You saw what I transformed into. I’ll keep the people coming after me at bay, without the crew even realising what went awry.”

“If you were part of my crew, I’d instantly throw you out,” Law coolly says, his torso shifting against the Polar Tang.

I let out a dry laugh. “Even if you tried to recruit me, I wouldn’t join you. Stay humble, doc.”

Law's expression remains neutral, but there's a glint in his eyes that shows he’s not entirely unaffected by my retort. He crosses his arms and leans back against the ship, seemingly unbothered, but I know him well enough to catch the subtle tension in his posture.

“You’re being obtuse, Raya. Not to mention incredibly selfish,” he bluntly states, not even trying to sugar-coat his words. “And if what Bepo’s told me about you is true, then that’s uncharacteristic of you. This'll affect everyone around you, exactly the way your Gramps had been. Taken, by a lifeless vessel, with two bulbous eyes.”

He leans in closer, his eyes now glinting more angrily, his voice lowering to a whisper. “At least your Gramps knew what he was getting into. He had a choice. And you, Raya, are not giving the same one to your crewmates.”

Fuck. Not once, but twice this asshole's statement rings true to me. If something were to happen, if the past I’ve been running from finally catches up to me, they could be caught off guard, unprepared for the shitstorm that I've happily brought along on board

I take a deep breath and meet Law’s eyes. “I never said I was a good person.”

Law's gaze hardens, Zoro’s body twitches, and for a moment, the air between us feels thick with tension. His eyes bore into mine, searching for something—maybe regret, maybe resolve. He doesn’t find either.

“I did some reading earlier,” Law breathes out coolly. “Of a person named Tyr. Tyr was ordinary. Incredibly so – mainly kept to himself, worked at a local mine, brought back food to his table without amiss. He didn’t have to work so hard, callous his hands day after day to scrounge up such measly coin to survive, but he did. He did it for his wife and two children, because he loved them so deeply, and he couldn’t see them suffer.

But that same Tyr also had no awareness of his lineage. Who he was didn’t concern him. He was a bastard’s child, no last name, his mother withered to dust during his childbirth. Until one day, a group of men dressed in black barged into his house and attempted to drag his wife and children away. You know what happened to that same old Tyr?”

I hold in a breath, not even daring to look at him. Even Zoro’s feigned equal breathing stops for a moment. I don’t respond, don’t even want to know about Tyr’s fate, but Law keeps on going.

“He turned into exactly what you are, Raya,” he says, his words quickening, tumbling out of his mouth with no regret. “And you know what he did?” Law leans in, his breath hitting my cheek coldly. “He was so consumed with his power, so lost in his own bottomless, consumed soul, he killed and tortured not only those men, but his two precious children and the wife that he adored more than anything.”

I can feel the blood draining from my face, the wrench slipping slightly in my grip – but Law keeps on going.

“So the thing about ‘Retribution’ is that you can be good. Dish it out to the deserved, change those who are able to be reformed. You can reign it in Raya,” he breathes out.

His eyes then darken, pinning me under his wrecked ship. “Or you can go off the rails. Go so off the rails, you’ll only be able to see red and red alone, and that power will quite certainly consume you, turn you, into the embodiment of Hell, just like good-natured, ordinary Tyr did. You’ll torture everyone, anyone, in sight, without even being aware of your own actions. Because all you will think about in that head of yours, echoing in every sick crevice, is of revenge, revenge, revenge. Pain, pain and even some more. So, if you don’t think you’re a good person now, what will you be when you transform?”

The silence that follows Law's words feels suffocating, like a heavy weight pressing down on my chest. Tyr. The image of him, once a loving family man, transformed into a monster by the same power that now courses through my veins, is impossible to shake. My hands begin to shake.

I can feel the pain in the air, not just from me but from everyone around. Bepo’s usually soft and comforting presence is tinged with anxiety, his paws fidgeting restlessly as he waits for me to respond.

And Zoro… my heart thumps harder, unable to swallow the lump in my throat as I catch his gaze. He isn’t even trying to feign sleep anymore. He stares at me, only steps away, his fingers itching as if to unsheathe his sword and plunge it into me.

Realisation floods into me, my skin prickling in shock as I turn from Zoro to Law. “You brought him here on purpose, didn’t you?” I whisper.

Law’s expression doesn't change, but the flicker of something in his eyes confirms my suspicion. He knew. He knew that Zoro would be here, that he would want to hear everything. A part of me wants to be furious, to lash out at him for orchestrating this, but another part—a deeper, quieter part—knows that this was inevitable. I just didn't want to face it.

Zoro’s gaze is piercing, unflinching, as he stares at me. The air between us is palpable, like a live wire crackling with trepidation. His hand hovers near his swords, and for a moment, I can’t tell if it's a reflex or a genuine threat. The thought chills me to the core.

You don’t scare me, Kozuki.

I know he’s not one to draw his blade without reason, but the way his eyes bore into mine makes it clear that he’s weighing every word, every movement, every breath.

You don’t scare me, Kozuki, but you sure as hell should be worried about me.

Law finally breaks the silence, his voice as calm and steady as ever, his fingers still remaining comfortable against his lap. As if seeing what was going through my head, he twitches his head behind to Zoro, and mutters out, “He didn’t know I was roping him into this, and neither did Bepo. If you want to lash out, do it to me. Not them.”

I swallow hard, the chill between us almost suffocating. My eyes flick between Bepo, Zoro, and Law, each of them representing different facets of my life—my past, my present, and the uncertain future that looms ahead. Law’s calm, calculating demeanour clashes with Zoro’s barely restrained fury, and Bepo’s concern only amplifies the weight of it all.

Zoro’s gaze pierces through me as those damned words echo through my head again, unyielding. ‘You don’t scare me, Kozuki.’

“What the fuck, Trafalgar,” Zoro suddenly manages to bite out, the veins in his hand flexing in tandem to his rushing thoughts.

“You deserved to know,” Law says, his gaze still stuck on me. “Out of your entire crew, you’re the one who’s least likely to be reckless with danger. And this time, that danger is Raya.”

“I listen to Luffy, and Luffy only.”

“Bullshit. Look at you - your hands are itching for a sword.”

Zoro grits down on his teeth, his gaze on me slightly wavering, almost as if he’s feeling a sense of guilt wash over him. My mouth slightly opens in surprise – maybe a little bit of betrayal surging through me as I understand Law’s statement rings true to him.

I bark out an incredulous laugh, looking at both men. Bepo seems to be in looking between Law and I, torn on whether to stand by his captain or his childhood friend.

“So, what, you’re going to kill me?” I bite out, my hand tightening so hard I feel the wrench tear into my skin. “Throw out the rotten fruit? Go on, I’d like to see you try.”

“No.” Law steps forward until he towers over me, dark eyes flickering down to my face. Zoro almost growls out seeing how close Law is, how our bodies almost touch but both of us are too busy to hear him.

As I release a breath, the wind slowly begins to pick up around me, as if challenging Law to fight. My hair flits upwards into the air with small embers of fire that seep through many miscellaneous strands of brown. My eyes remain on him, sizing him up, wondering how it would feel if I could just plunge this wrench into his chest and taste his blood.

My eyes widen slightly at my intrusive thoughts, shock paralysing me and rooting me to the floor. Never in my life have I…

Law only observes me with a curled down frown, his ink black hair whipping from the rising wind.

“It’s happening, isn’t it?” He murmurs lowly, lips pursed only ever so slightly. “You thought of something unsavoury.”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I rise my chin up at him.

He kisses his teeth and grabs my wrist, his tattooed fingers curling over my skin tightly, as if knowing I would try to slip out and run away. A blue light seep from beneath his finger pads, my tan skin consuming its colour like an incubus. A sound, almost faint, whirls around me; a feminine voice uttering out words in a language that was definitely not born from the grounds of earth.

“Don’t fuck with me, Raya. Stop it with the dumbass defiant act,” he warns, the light underneath his hand glowing with more colour.

“Then why don’t you be a lovely doctor and move your hands away,” I retort.

Zoro growls at Law with outrage and boulders his way past Bepo - who looks like he’s about to pass out – and grabs him by the same glowing wrist that lays on me.

“Take your fucking hands off her before I cut them off,” he murmurs lowly, his eyes slitted demonically.

Law, outraged, whips his head around at Zoro. “What do you think you-“

But it’s too late. The glow in Law’s hands and fingers grows larger, bigger, taking up all the air in the room until even the fire that lights up the stalactite ceiling disappears.

It feels like the world around us has taken a deep breath and gasped out, snuffing our vision out.

It’s dark, almost like a black void has consumed me. There’s nothing but black, black, and black, assaulting my vision in drowning shades. My head turns this way and that way, my eyes hungrily, desperately, searching for something, and the sounds of someone scrambling on the floor resound in the chillingly silent cavern.

“L-Law! What’s happened?” Bepo desperately calls out, his heavy footsteps aimlessly thundering around me. I let out a strangled gasp, my eyes subconsciously widening almost as if trying to consume something, anything that I can see.

I hear Law from below me, on the floor, his heavy boots struggling to find purchase to stand up. Whatever he was casting threw him to the ground, his groans an outcome of his power.

A hot breath flattens against my skin, prickling my hair on my neck, making me instantly look up and try to figure out the source.

“Calm down,” Zoro mutters to me, his breath tickling the shell of my ear, my face coming into contact with what could be his hard chest. His rough fingers curl over my wrist, held so tightly it feels like he won’t dare to let go.

Unable to think, I comply and breathe in slowly through my mouth. Law sounds to be standing on his feet, slightly stumbling in blindness, before he growls out,

“You fucked up, Zoro.”

I furrow my brows together, my head whipping to Trafalgar’s direction, but before I can respond, Law bites out another remark.

“Look down.”

With nothing else I can do, I lower my head and my eyes come into contact with my wrist. A small, faint flicker of blue light encircles around my skin like a cuff, laying on my skin so tightly it almost becomes even painful to twist it.

It flickers again as it gains more energy, more colour, until the thin ring of light transforms into a shackled cuff. It glows in the darkness, giving light to my surroundings, my breath catching in my throat as I look around. My eyes instantly lock on to Law, who has his jaw clenched tightly. But a slight twinge of sardonic humour glints in his eyes as he turns to Zoro, who’s looking furiously at him, his grip on me unrelenting.

“Law? What-what did you do?” Bepo squeaks out, his eyes bulging out of his skull. “What just happened?!”

“What the fuck is this?” I demand, staring down at my wrist.

Law sighs heavily, ignoring both Bepo and I. He doesn’t look away from Zoro’s intense gaze, almost frowning in betrayal. “Roronoa, do you really think I would’ve killed her?”

I hear Zoro’s teeth grit together almost too painfully before he says, “You were too close to her for my liking.”

Law rolls his eyes, trying to clear the surprised glint in them. “Well,” Law muses, his finger pointing at Zoro’s wrist. “You won’t be having that problem anymore.”

Immediately, we all look down to Zoro’s wrist.

A faint twin blue flickers against his large wrist, gaining more and more light to restrict his skin into a painfully tight circle. He moves his wrist reflexively, hissing out a curse as it also drags my wrist in his direction. I topple over with a yelp, my elbow barraging into his chest.

Instantly, my face falters. I look closely at the cuff around my skin, the way it sections out into a pattern of interlocked chains, growing and growing to meet Zoro’s. Zoro’s face contorts into a horrified realisation that mirrors mine, his wrist – and in extension, mine - tugging in front of his face as if to test the theory out.

My head whips up as I murderously look at Trafalgar.

“Oh, you did not do what I just think you did,” I snap.

Trafalgar only smiles at me, devoid of any humour. “He should’ve moved out of the way.”

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theheartofone · 1 year ago

Text

Steel in Her Veins, Chapter: Thirty-Seven

Read On: AO3 | Table of Contents | Next Chapter

Characters: Fem!Reader x Roronoa Zoro

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Washed Up

Kozuki Raya

I have to throw him into the lake, I tell myself again. Throw him in the lake, and the water will do its thing.

That’s what Aragnus said to do before he flew away, planting the rest of my crew and allies all across his thick back.

For the millionth time in that hour, he had to assure my enraged ass that he wasn’t going to harm anyone. That they were going to be taken to rest, and that I would be able to see them after dealing with Zoro if that would make me feel any better. Acting as if he wasn’t trying to obliterate me and everyone I knew only a mere minutes ago.

I stare down at Zoro. His entire body is paralysed, his arms and legs splayed on the floor like a dragged across puppet. I try to stifle down a smile as I look at the priceless reaction on his face. Oh, he’s definitely pissed off about the whole thing – and unfortunately for me, Zoro notices the weird contortion on my face.

“I swear if you start laughing, Tenguyama…” he grumbles.

Even though I do bite down on my tongue, I can’t help but teasingly cock my head. “Or what? You gonna suddenly jump right up and fight me?”

He calls me a not-so-nice name that I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear.

Whatever Aragnus did to Zoro… well, his body just wasn’t cut out for it. My small smile starts to fade as I think about that.

This is probably the first time I’ve ever felt afraid for his pain in the ass. And I didn’t like feeling like that.

It’s not like I’m doing this against my will. It’s the opposite, actually. When Franky offered to take Zoro off my hands, knowing I’m going through the worst identity crisis of my life, I had the audacity to bark back at him like a rabid dog.

I guess that sounds pretty on brand, with who I supposedly am, the incarnation of Retribution – whatever the fuck that even means. I can’t admit it to anyone else, but I’m scared. I’m really fucking scared about what that means about myself.

Do you even know who your mother is? Your father?

Aragnus’s weathered voice echoes in my head again, thrumming against the sore walls in my head. It infuriated me. Back then, he was toying with me, trying to pick at the gaps of my history with his enormous chicken claws. Provoking me to turn into a monster.

But Aragnus was right. Gramps, as much as I loved – no, love him - he’s still alive, Raya, don’t be an idiot, he was always so vague with his answers. He didn’t want to say anything, do anything, almost as if he was trying to fool the fates themselves.

Who really are my parents? Where did I even come from? I’m not sure I want to know anymore.

I frustratedly sigh out loud and force myself to take in my surroundings, trying anything to block out my thoughts. I can’t deal with these thoughts right now. I can’t.

I stare, my jaw clenching, at the trickling lake. A large body of surreal, illuminating water drifts within the cavern - yet another vast tunnel that connects to the rest of the Draconian colony - immediately making my body groan and claw desperately for its comfort.

I begin to tug at Zoro’s lean shoulders, drifting his paralysed body into the water with as much care as I can. He lays there silently, his eye staring up at the glittering stalactite ceiling. I let go of him, beginning to unfurl my pants that’s been cindered into pieces, buttons clinging onto them for dear life.

Zoro attention then crosses back to me when he hears a ruffle of clothing coming from my direction. He chokes on water, looking completely pale.

“What the hell are you doing?” he exclaims, making me yelp and jump in surprise. His alarmed voice takes all of the space of the hollow room, echoing over and over again until all I can hear is a dozen of aghast Zoro’s.

I annoyedly give him a look, my fingers pausing in the middle of unbuttoning my shirt. “What do you mean, what am I doing? Don’t you bathe with your crewmates?”

“Yeah, separately, we do.”

“Sorry, Roronoa, you’re so right. I’ll just let you wash your completely paralysed self first, with your completely paralysed hands, and then I’ll jump in straight after!” I muse sarcastically. “How about that?”

Zoro glares at me, his mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for air. His frustration is palpable, but there’s not much he can do in his current state. I grin at him, sticking my tongue out.

He kisses his teeth. “Get in, then.”

“It’s not like you’re seeing anything new, anyway,” I mumble under my breath, slipping my half-burnt shirt over my head. My fingers go to my bra, my eyes awkwardly averting to the ceiling as I undo the last latch.

Zoro tries to maintain his angry face, but I can see the faint flush of colour creeping up his neck as he averts his gaze. His eye flickers back towards me occasionally, despite his best efforts to look uninterested, his jaw clenching and unclenching quickly.

“Damn it, Ray,” he mutters, his voice rough and strained. “I said, get in.”

“Okay, okay.”

And then I slip into the body of pure warmth.

When I tell you I can’t even describe in words how captivating this liquid felt against my skin, brewing within my bones, it’s a complete understatement. I gasp heavily, my cracked lips parting. It feels like hope kissing her lips my thighs, her arms reaching for my waist with a melancholic look in her eyes.

Zoro’s presence, however, still lingers like a wounded predator, drifting in the corner with his back facing down. His eyes follow me as I wade deeper, and I can sense his gaze lingering on me, assessing, calculating, perhaps doing something else I can’t put my finger on.

A thrumming waterfall behind me plays endless tricks with the light, casting restless shadows across Zoro’s face. His jaw glints like a sharp-edged blade, constantly refining the line connecting to his shoulder blades and the sinewy muscles running through his relaxed arms. Even the grassy curls that lay across his wet forehead look like they’re pulsating with new colour, more energy.

I tread towards him, not knowing what to say in the midst of the silence between us. All I can do is feel the water rush and lap over my bare body, my lips parting again from the tumult of sensations. Roronoa glares at me, his jaw clenching with restrained frustration, the muscles rippling beneath the surface of his skin like coiled springs waiting to be released. Every movement he makes is deliberate, controlled, yet there’s some sort of intensity that threatens to break free at any moment.

I can feel the heat radiating off him, from his breath, his skin overcome with streams of teardrops over the curve of his muscles, and I can’t help but lean closer to him. My wet brown curls snake over my bare shoulder, pressing across his chest like a string of unfurled ribbon. He releases a breath he was trying to restrain, which makes me suddenly hold mine in.

This is so… intimate. I haven’t even yet touched him, and yet the slightest touch of my hair on his skin feels like we’re breaking boundaries.

Neither of us wants to break the silence as we lay here, allowing the small trickles of waterfalls be the only source of sound within this large cavern.

For a moment, I tip my head backwards, feeling the heat of the liquid flow through me. I sigh dejectedly. This was a painful day. A stressful and a lonely one, to be honest. I’ve never felt so vulnerable and uncovered in front so many people until now.

I raise an arm from underwater, staring at the water that chases past the honey hue of my skin. And for the first time in a while, I notice that my skin is smooth. Bright. Full of life. No colourful bruises, no spurting blood, no torturous metal caging its way into my veins like some kind of hell-spawn.

I hold my breath as the image of myself flashes into my head.

I became light.

I transformed into some sort of thing in shades of gold and black, metal encasing my whole being as if that was my original form all along. My mind starts to race.

Retribution? What does that event equate to? A punisher? A torturer? A Goddess who demands revenge and destroys all for her personal gain?

All I’m missing is a scythe. Then I’d be the fucking Grim Reaper.

Gods, I’m a monster.

“Okay,” I snap out loud with my eyes closed, quickly plunging my arms back into the heat of the water. My voice echoes with no end within the emptiness of the room. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“You really don’t need to do this,” Zoro quickly says, his eyes trained on the ceiling.

I cock my head at him, frowning. “Come on. It was my fault for getting you into this.” I stare at his beautiful, tense face. “If only I’d shut my mouth and let that bird talk, I wouldn’t have put everyone in danger.”

“What you did was pretty fuckin’ stupid, yeah, but you weren’t making me do anything against my will.”

I shake my head, and finally decide to trace my fingers over one of his rough hands, my skin brushing against his delicious warmth. I cup some water in my palms, sifting some over his coiled, hard biceps and admiring the way the water beads off in harmony to his form. When all of a sudden, I feel his fingers curving over mine, catching my hand into a loose squeeze. I gasp a little.

“I wanted to fight that chicken freak so bad, you know,” Zoro breathes out heavily, his chest rising in reaction to my cold fingers. He’s trying his best to train his eye on the ceiling and not on my bare form that hovers above him.

I snort, cupping more water over his neck and shoulders. My hand doesn’t even manage to wrap even halfway around his bicep, so I decide to use both. My palms slowly ripple over his tense skin, lathering over each surface with silent admiration. “The both of us could’ve skewered him.”

“Given that damn cook something to barbeque.”

I laugh out loud. My burst of joy envelops each and every crevice of the cave, making Zoro’s mouth slightly twitch in return. “Well, you should be glad he wasn’t. You’d be stuck here, motionless, forever.”

There’s a defiant glint in his eye as he locks his gaze onto my face and says, “Would’ve been worth it.”

I lean towards him even closer, slightly drunk on the joy of the water. I hold my breath, taking a moment to stare at him and the thin sketch that runs over his other eye.

Wasn’t I supposed to hate him?

A few other green curls have found its way to rest over his eyes, the heat of the water tracing over his face in dewy drops. My fingers are itching so bad to touch more of him.

Snap out of it, Ray. What the hell am I doing?

I instantly turn away and busy myself with cleaning him up.

Zoro stares at me with an unreadable look as I focus only and solely on his neck. “You don’t need to do this,” he hoarsely says.

I hesitate, my fingers pausing right above his Adam’s apple. “I mean, if you’re so hell-bent on doing something, there is one way you could repay me.”

“And what’s that?”

“Um…” I swallow, avoiding his questioning stare. My fingers begin reaching for his warm chest, my palm softly drifting across his muscles on its own. I hear him take in a quiet, yet sharp breath as my fingers come into contact with his skin. His eye darkens instantaneously with an edge of wanting.

Obviously, that didn’t last for long as I release the next sentence from my mouth.

“Well, you mentioned somebody named Kuina.”

If a paralysed man could become even more paralysed, that’s exactly how Zoro reacts.

He doesn’t respond for a few moments, almost as if he’s brewing on what to say.

“What… about her?” He asks, his low voice warning me to tread carefully with the topic.

“The Kuina you knew served the Wado Ichimonji, right?”

He gave an approving grunt.

“Short hair? Blue?”

“Yeah.”

“Her dad own a dojo? Was she strong? Fucking amazing with swords? Was always a little bit defiant, but could still act all cool and collected when she had to? Did she—”

“You knew her.”

I pause. My chest feels tight as I force out a fake smile. “Small world, I guess.”

“You knew her,” Zoro repeats, still taken aback by the information. “How? When? But…”

I’m an actual fucking moron, then. I release a bitter laugh from my lips as my fingers clench into fists, resting firmly over his hard chest. Since when had I turned into this thoughtless air-head?

Because the Kuina I knew, the Kuina who would drag her Wado across the deserted fields of the island we would meet up on, would complain to me. How her father couldn’t see her as anything more than a female. That she had noticed herself, how her own limits were only multiplying; her breasts were forming, her body slowing its growth in height and strength. And.. And she’d complain about…

“She’d tell me how this one green-headed, snotty-nosed kid was always running up to her for a fight,” I mutter, my voice cracking. “She’d gloat about it, too. ‘Lil’ fry didn’t know what hit him when his sword flew across the room.’”

“She said that about me?” Zoro snaps.

There’s an uncomfortable silence after that. I can’t bring myself to reply, terrified that if I do, I’d probably just cry.

Zoro’s breathing is harsher now. I can tell just by staring at the way his chest is dramatically rising, trying so hard not to blow up.

Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. Maybe it was a mistake, digging up a part of Zoro’s past, because I’ve never heard him ever talk about his life before the crew in much detail. There must be a reason why he doesn’t.

I needed to know, though. Because no one in my life besides my Gramps knew about Kuina, and now knowing that someone else does… it makes her existence more permanent. As if she wasn’t a dream I made up all along, and now I can honour her more by knowing that.

Zoro’s still breathing heavily. “I’ve…never told anyone about her, not even to Luffy,” he mutters. “I can’t… I don’t even know how to deal with this. I didn’t even deal with her…” He stops himself, gritting his teeth hard.

I don’t know how, but I just knew what he was about to say.

He didn’t even try to honour her death.

“I guess that’s where you and I differ,” I mumble, furiously trying to suck in the tears back into my eyes. “I made my own small burial for her, with all the things she liked. Made this tiny-sized shitty dojo out of bamboo, with a sword-shaped locket I made for her placed beneath. There were pictures of us inside, acting like dumbasses in front of my snoring Gramps.”

I laugh out loud, my eyes glazing over. “Man, we attached balloons to his arms and threw darts at them until he woke up. Got into so much trouble with him that day…

And the Wado - it was supposed to be the finishing touch to her burial, you know. And maybe then, I’d honour her by wielding her sword later. But when her father told me that it was gone – given away…I was furious. Enraged. I screamed at him. Sobbed. I told him, who else deserved his daughter’s sword, besides him or…”

I stop myself, biting my lip hard until I feel blood seeping across my tongue. I was about to say, ‘someone who promised her they were forever sisters, regardless of blood.’

I shake my head, moving away as to hide my face from Zoro. “That’s why I hated you so much when you came to my shop, with those three broken weapons by your side. Not only did I think you stole Kuina’s possession, but defacing it like that, like it meant nothing…”

My voice breaks and I dejectedly let myself take a few breaths. I don’t have the heart to continue anymore, so I wait for Zoro to reply.

It’s unbearably silent. I don’t even hear him pause to say anything. The silence feels like an ending more than a continuance, and for some reason I feel dread run cold through my body.

I raise my head up to look at him, and my suspicions are confirmed.

Zoro shakes his head unforgivingly, glaring at me with hatred in his eye.

“What?” I ask.

I notice that his arms are moving by his will now, his legs drifting underwater to steady himself upright. His body’s slowly gaining back sensation. “Who are you, Raya?”

I freeze. I feel like a thousand poisonous daggers are raining over me, a tumult of all my worst fears stabbing me through my skin. “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about,” he spits out. He steps towards me, making me stumble backwards until my spine hits the edge of the lake. “I never saw you at the dojo, meaning that every time Kuina said she was off for the weekend with her dad, she was seeing you. People don’t travel across islands to meet just anybody, Raya. So, who are you?”

I press my hand against his chest, forcing him to take a step away from me. I instantly turn from terrified to angry, scowling up at him with defiance.

“You answered your own question. I’m Raya, asshole.”

“Tenguyama Raya?” He pushes. I bristle, feeling his large hand cup over mine on his chest. He swipes it away and advances toward me, his gaze darkening. “That right? Or have you been lying to us the entire time?”

I can’t tell him. I can’t tell him, my mind furiously hisses, whispering over and over again the million different possibilities that could happen if I did reveal myself to them. I’m afraid that things will only get worse if he knows, what could happen to the crew if they all did figure it out.

A small part of me still doesn’t trust any of them. I hate that I feel this way, but it’s true. I don’t know who to trust, and frankly, I don’t want to be known as a Kozuki anymore. I want freedom from that cursed name.

“I’m…” I hold in a breath and furrow my eyebrows in irritation. “I’m just Raya. Can’t you just accept that answer and move the fuck on?”

“No. Not if you’re going to hurt my crew,” he simply says.

Hurt my crew. My crew.

I feel I’ve just been punched in the face.

“You don’t trust me.” I don’t pose it as a question, but instead say it matter-of-factly. I search his gaze and purse my lips. “You never did trust me, did you?”

He scoffs, leaning his head towards my face, his hot breath landing against my cheeks. “You think I want to be this close to you? You think I want to be spending my time, watching you, following you, like some sort of fucking dog? No, Raya, you don’t trust me either. Don’t be accusing me of distrust if you have it.”

I suddenly feel an odd sting to my eyes but I’m not sure why. Blood is rushing through me so quickly, and I’m immediately in a state of fury.

“You should’ve decided that when you kissed my hands, Zoro.” He stares at me with confusion, and I scoff, pushing him away from me. “That day, when I was losing blood and then passed out? I saw you. When you put me to bed, and before you left, you kissed my hands as I was bleeding from them. Why?” I wryly look at him when he doesn’t respond. “What, was that last minute guilt?”

Zoro's expression shifts, a mix of anger and contemplation flickering across his features as he meets my gaze. He considers my question. The silence stretches between us, thick with fury and fear.

Finally, he speaks, his voice low and measured, each word weighted with anger. "I did it because..." He pauses, as if searching for the right words. "To show you I’m not afraid of you."

He takes a moment to stand in front of me, his fist opening then closing by his side as if deciding whether to reach for me. He heaves out a frustrated sigh before turning his back to walk to the other edge of the pool.

I don’t move; I don’t look at him or try to even understand what he meant by saying that. The water trickles across multiple broken rocks, calmly fluttering into the lake with a discontented sigh, and all I can do is sink my shoulders deeper into the warm liquid, hoping that maybe it’ll wash even my memories away.

Zoro in the distance begins to dress himself, throwing on his shirt and pants with unnecessary aggression before grabbing at his two swords. He doesn’t offer a look back to me as he storms out of the cave, except he leaves me with a few parting words, the words that will stop me from going to sleep at night.

“You don’t scare me, Kozuki.”

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theheartofone · 1 year ago

Text

Steel in Her Veins, Chapter: Thirty-Six

Read On: AO3 | Table of Contents | Next Chapter

Characters: Fem!Reader x Roronoa Zoro

writer's notes: HEY! I'M BACK! I'm graduating for my BA soon, FINALLY! Being so busy and coming back to One Piece and writing has been such a refreshing and welcome feeling; I'm really glad to be back. I'm so excited to finally post a new chapter for you all! I wrote an extra long chapter to make it up to you guys for all the time I've lost, and truly, I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did writing it. PLEASE don't forget to reblog, like or comment, as that helps me a ton in terms of support! Enjoy <3 c:

Chapter Thirty-Six: Dragon Taxi

The echoes of exhilaration reverberate against the crumbling walls of the Draconian citadel, turning every curious dragon’s head in a thousand-mile radius. The beasts pause, mid-flight, wings aflutter before their proud chests like a halo of glittering thorns and observe.

Raya continues to scream, breath after breath after breath, her fingers rooting painfully into the metallic back of Aragnus, in the fear of slipping off. The wind rushes straight into her throat like heavy bullets, her dark hair wildly jumbling up into waves in midst of the ceasefire. Her fingers accidentally brush past his glittering scales, and she can’t help but laugh as each of them flitter in response to her touch. It’s been so long since the last time she’s felt happy – so happy, she’s intoxicated with the feeling and conveniently forgetful of the worries she normally harbours onto like a masochistic blanket.

Aragnus swerves into a harsh right, speeding through the airborne traffic of his fellow brethren; Raya glances around, and for a moment, it feels like time slows down. Her eyes raise upwards, her soft lips parting as she slowly lets out a breath. Beautiful, elegant creatures swerve on each of her vulnerable sides, the curved silhouettes of their bodies singing sweetly into the marrow of her bones. Colours – so many colours, she thinks passionately to herself– glint across their metallic talons, making them look so incredibly heavenly to her plain human eyes.

Without warning, Aragnus plunges upwards.

The obsidian beast drives her upwards like a slinging comet, his tail glowing hot white in reaction to the force of the pressure, before he lowly chitters in what could only be described as teasing as he takes the sight of his dishevelled, frightful passenger.

She accusingly stares back at his large, glossy eyes, shouting against the deafening atmospheric pressure. “What was that?”

He swerves his head away from her gaze. A presentation.

She laughs. Her whole body gleams to the bubbling drop in her stomach, and for a second her fingers seem to be swimming in a pool of glitter, her eyes blurring from the extreme dryness of the air. Her hair, wild and dark and present with palpable energy, begins to ascent above her shoulders in a pool of glow and she doesn’t know what to do besides scream to express her joy.

And then she hears it. The unanimous startled hum of the thousands of dragons within this enormous citadel.

Instantly, Aragnus slows, humming out a rough breath of endorsement. He treads air, facing his kind and offering them a look satisfaction.

Good, he mutters to himself.

“What?” Raya asks. She hesitantly pats his back. “You can keep going, I’m not against you wanting to perform, my little taxi.”

Aragnus scoffs enormously as a spark of fire exits from his snout. Please refrain from calling me transport. Besides, I think we have played quite enough.

“Alright, but…” The next words dies on the tip of the swordsmith’s tongue as she looks around, staring at the view as Aragnus soars them to their destination.

The way the tunnels and entrances are split off from the centre citadel are similar to ant colonies, she remarks, fascination bubbling in her eyes. Aragnus soars through one of the hundreds of tunnels present, gliding effortlessly in the embers of the fire.

When they arrive, Raya doesn’t know what to say.

Where they are now couldn’t be described as anything else but majestic in a wild sentiment. With eight towering boulders equidistantly set in a semi-circle, the rest of the cavern is empty except for the humongous platform in the centre. But Raya notices something – etched across the platform is an array of thousands of claw marks, so imprinted into the rock’s surface that Raya somehow felt the desperation and fear of the many who stood there before her. Raya can’t help but wonder what had happened to the owners of those marks.

Seven other dragons, similar to Aragnus’ enormous size, but not as broad as he, begin to slow to their descent onto each of their designated boulder. One yellow, the other red, and a glittering green all begin to snort in what sounded like chittering excitement – and for some inexplicable reason, it makes Raya’s blood run cold.

She swallows, now feeling incredibly distrustful of her taxi ride. Her brown eyes scan for his, yet they’re unable to reach them as they remain focussed ahead.

“So,” Raya casually says, desperately trying to steel herself from feeling the panic rising in her stomach. “Am I being publicly executed, or what?”

But Aragnus doesn’t respond.

Raya swallows. “I asked you a question,” she slowly enunciates, staring down at the dragon who now graces them onto the clawed out platform.

Calm yourself. We shall explain in mere moments.

She swerves herself away from him like a jerk reaction, now completely alarmed by his response.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

A scream echoes against the walls. Usopp, distraught, comes running through the entrance.

“Raya!”

Her head snaps towards her crew, her brain slowly taking in each of their panicking faces. A frightened Chopper, Usopp and Brook – they gape at Raya, who dumbfoundedly stands alone and vulnerable on the crumbling platform with eight looming beasts carefully tracking her movements.

Luffy, Sanji, and Franky – even she can feel the heat of their concern from miles away.

Nami and Robin.

“What…”

Nami is at a loss for words; her eyebrows are knit together with dread. Robin’s eyes cautiously flicker around the room, most likely trying to figure the situation out.

And, finally, a manic Zoro.

Her eyes lock onto his almost out of second nature, holding his gaze for a moment longer than the others. He’s silent – way too silent for her liking, as he darkens almost instantly when he sees her standing there, all frozen.

There’s a madness in his eye, that’s without question. His fingers instantly snap onto his hilt, furious veins protruding out from his scarred skin.

Then, everyone collapses onto the floor, shouting. A sudden wave of intense pressure invades their minds, their hands clawing at themselves in desperation. All thought and reason exits from their heads as they ground their knees deeper into rock.

We, the eights, call all forth. We, the eights, call all forth, multiple voices – masculine and feminine alike, resound heavily, echoing in clusters of hypnotising thrums in everyone’s thoughts.

Instantly, Usopp screams. He has his hands over his ears, his fingers clawing at his ears, his eyes, over and over with no thought but intense agony. Raya gasps as she remains the only one standing.

Even Luffy is on his arms and knees, but instead of screaming, he remains eerily still.

“Can you—” Bepo grunts out, lagging behind the Strawhats through tangled vocals. He stumbles over his own feet, Law immediately grabbing him by the shoulder. “Am I going crazy? Can you hear that?”

“Yeah,” Law says, raising his fingers as the blue circle around him merges outwards to absorb the incapacitated. He looks at Raya with pursed lips, deep concern shadowing his face. “It’s most definitely the dragons.”

A large swarm screeches in the distance, their wings billowing through the hollow colonies of caves like a thunderous harmony. They grow nearer and nearer to her judgement, making Raya worriedly twist around to stare at the great eight dragons.

Raya furiously swerves towards Aragnus, who now takes a graceful position on largest boulder of the eight. “How are you doing that? How are you speaking to them?”

Merely, the dragon’s eyes narrow. You think very little of us, caller.

“Raya, are you alright?” Sanji calls out, his teeth gritting hard in his jaw. “What the hell do they think they’re gonna do to you? I’m gonna beat the shit out of them, I swear.”

“Shut it, cook,” Zoro snarls maliciously, forcing himself onto his feet despite the pressure that slams thickly into him. His lips twitch from the pain, but instantly he erases the expression from his face. “You’re making things worse.”

He begins to unsheathe his swords, but Raya raises a hand at him with a fiery glare.

“No. Don’t even think about it.” She soberly looks at Aragnus. “I’m going to handle this.”

Suddenly, Zoro laughs out loud, his dark grey eye bulging with a sudden rush of insanity. His voice rises to an alarming level of anger - barely ever occurring for the swordsman in question which catches Raya off guard.

“Do you know what kind of fucking situation you’re in right now? What they’re gonna do to you?”

Luffy instantly snaps his head towards Zoro, his face darkening. “I’m not letting that happen.”

“Stop it, both of you. If she’s not asking for your heroics, then you don’t intervene.” Nami snaps, grabbing both of their arms.

“But—"

With an ear-splitting whoosh, the swarm now appears soaring through the room like screeching bats, shrouding the cavern into complete darkness. They soar behind the great eight, poising themselves in what seems to be crafted like a crude amphitheatre clawed out of stone. Thousands of beady eyes slink on her, watchfully gazing on their prey.

She bristles at their stares, causing her to gain more courage than she should be granted in a predicament like this.

“Why am I here? Is this some sort of morbid entertainment? You want me to fight till the death?” Her voice rises, staring each of the great eights down. She glares at the centre of the eight, onto the proud, towering Aragnus. She mutters lowly, “Because I’ll fight. Don’t think for a second I won’t.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Zoro madly yells, struggling to free himself from Robin’s impenetrable hands.

Aragnus merely chortles. It sounds like you have been bloodthirsty for much too long.

Zoro freezes. “I swear to fuck, Raya, don’t do anything-”

Raya swallows. “I’m parched.”

The samurai curses so loudly, his voice echoes again and again within the infinite chamber.

Then it will be an honour to aid your palate.

And he swerves towards her, his serrated obsidian claws ripping out from between its armoured skin. Zoro, finally bouldering himself out of Robin’s grasp, immediately tries to charge towards her, but Aragnus is too quick. With one single flap of his wings, he musters enough force to throw the swordsman flying in the air. Zoro hurtles away like an asteroid from such intense pressure that even heavy-bodied Franky has to slam his fingers into a boulder to stop himself from flying away.

Crack.

The sound of multiple bones painfully breaking apart envelops the space.

Moments pass. Silence.

There’s a deep hole made in the wall, rock crumbling over like heavy rain, with no sight of Zoro.

Nothing.

Raya’s heart stops. Her face falters.

“What the fuck,” she mumbles through clenched teeth, “was that?”

Aragnus twists his head and takes a slash at her, but she dodges it almost immediately. He pauses to smirk at her.

A presentation.

Her breath comes out unevenly, the blood in her body rushing to her head in intoxicating patterns.

She swallows, fury consuming her as she says the next few words.

“I want your fucking head.”

Instantly, she unsheathes her longsword and strikes at his throat. Aragnus merely snaps his jaw at her advance, but that doesn’t stop Raya. She takes this as an opportunity to strike again – and strike, she does, as she spins herself around so magnificently and proceeds to slice the tip of Aragnus’ tongue.

Aragnus roars in pain. He claws at her again, but, again, it’s blocked, and she swears that now the metal sprouting from her skin begins humming to the blood that flows from her anger. This is exactly how light would feel like, she thinks quickly to herself, as she slams her longsword towards the distressed beast. The metal hums. Her blood thickens. Pure light flows. Glowing deliciously through her cache like fire, like dust, like power.

Raya, Aragnus roars, Granddaughter of the glorious. Niece of the burning. Kotetsu’s truth. You do not know who you are.

“Totally, because, like, I’m brilliant by association, right?” Raya mocks, tilting her head at him and twirling her hair. She scoffs, spinning her longsword across her shoulder to her hip, then piercing it into the ground before her. “Learning such plain facts about me is nothing but kind of… disappointing, to be honest, Aragnus.”

Is that so? The dragon drawls humorously. Then, I ask you to look at yourself. Look at your hands. Your hair. The metal in your skin. Do you know who you are?

“And who do you think you are, my behavioural therapist?”

The dark dragon spins instantaneously, his spiked tail thundering against the floor like a spinning boulder. Raya screams in a blend of pain and exhilaration, her fingers glowing brighter and brighter, her sword vibrating aggressively in her palms. She swings with an overarm, aiming her longsword across Aragnus’ metallic spikes – albeit instead of hitting her mark, stumbles before she does. The dragon thunders a claw onto the platform, splitting the rock into thin, crumbling veins.

You do not know of your true birth right, true or false?

Raya bristles at this. She screams out like a manic beast, completely taken over by her feral instinct. “Hey, how about you shut the fuck up and just fight me?”

Her arm strikes right in between nail and metal, slicing through impenetrable skin with ferocity and finesse. Her hair, flowing above her shoulders, moves as if it’s fire raging beneath a body of undisturbed water.

Instead of roaring, Aragnus only growls in what sounds like positive approval.

Who is your mother, Raya? He pesters. Who is your father? Who do you think you are? Look down at yourself, or I will make you myself!

Before Raya can even react, Aragnus hurtles towards her like a shooting star and slams her to the ground. The air blasts out of her lungs in an instantaneous explosion, her bones beginning to split from beneath Aragnus’ claw, and she cries out.

“Stop!” Luffy screams monsterously. His eyes flash and bulge with madness, with the agony of watching Raya pathetically lay there like that. But he can’t help, as Law continues to hold him hostage in his blue room. Luffy swerves around, slamming his fists on Law’s chest. “You fucking moron, that’s my crewmate!”

“Luffy, wait…” Brook mutters softly as he presses a bony palm against the blue wall. He stands there at the commotion, frozen.

Law doesn’t react to Luffy’s multiple attacks on his arms and chest, his fingers still raised in the air. His eyes are completely focussed on her. On… On who is supposed to be Kozuki Raya.

“Turn around, Mugiwara,” he says. “Look at her.”

Luffy falters. He spins around.

Aragnus pushes her head harder, forcing her eyes to lock onto her own body.

Look, I say.

Raya freezes in her position as she stares at herself. It hurts. It hurts to even look. Her eyes burn like they’re about to melt out of her face.

No. Surely this isn’t the power granted by her devil fruit.

This…

Aragnus poises himself upwards and lets her go, slamming his claw against the rock before her.

You shine. You melt. You release the metal from your veins that blossom like apples on a tree and glow with the power of a thousand consumed souls.

It’s gold. Glowing, beaming light. So bright her retinas are burning and the metal in her skin is melting in liquid silk. Raya stands with silver liquid webbing across her pulsating, golden form. She is ethereal. She is everything consisting of tan skin, golden light and silver steel. Breathing does not matter to her anymore. Her life is only in blinding colour.

Again, the beast charges at her; Raya screams, jumping out of her trance. She, too, charges forwards, and like a shooting asteroid, clashes her whole being, her sword, her arms, and her forehead, against his protruding nails.

You think a mere fruit offers you this? He chortles through his snout. No. This is in your blood. You were never altered. Your heart beats – yes, it has always beaten - with wrath.

“Then who am I?” Raya thunders, and with that burst of anger, a shining light pulsates around her form, forcing her crewmates and allies alike to cover their eyes.

Would you like me to show you?

Immediately, Aragnus soars into the sky and he moves in the most impossible way.

He begins spinning. He spins his entire heavy body like a tabletop turner. Slowly, at first, he moves as if to show off himself in his chromatic, gleaming splendour, twisting and twisting and twisting around until all fall in trance to the wonder of his existence.

He then gains momentum, swirling faster and faster until the dragon becomes nothing but a blur -a dagger-shaped blur - aiming right towards her crew. Raya’s eyes panickily flicker towards them, until she realises that the dragon’s shadow is not hovering over their path, no.

Instead, this looming, heavy beast has his beady eyes tracked on someone else. Tracking straight through the wide, human-shaped hole in the wall, spinning so furiously he turns into a shade of black, he’s found the immobile samurai.

Raya’s wet, silver face falters in horrid realisation. Aragnus lowers his dagger-shaped head, and into a curved dive, allows the rest of his body to elegantly ripple after him.

That was the absolute to Raya’s already manic breaking point, as the blood in her body begins to rush in an impossibly fast momentum throughout her, defying the biology of her simple human body. With one step, she lifts herself off the platform, grounding the rock beneath her into dust, before screaming out a battle cry and shooting into Aragnus’ line of sight.

It’s bright. It’s too bright.

In the corner of her eyes, all she can see and taste and smell is of pure, pulsating light. It consumes her, burns her - lungs, heart and veins alike – until she is nothing but an orb of metal and rock and gas and sulfur.

Her skin is made of gold. The metal that used to spike and plunder through her skin intertwines together all over her body like clasping hands, webbing her skin into an armour of light. She can’t stop screaming – not because she’s in any pain, but as if someone else has taken over her body. She can only feel the pulse of battle and the thrum of a warrior’s heart entwine into her own, her hands and arms blackening into a dark metallic splendour.

She clashes against Aragnus with the entirety of her being, and with an ear-piercing shatter, combusts everything and anything around them into matter of darkness and suffocation. A black hole expands from her hands, formed through the consumption and explosion of her own self, before it fragilely disappears back into herself.

A moment passes, her manic and bulging eyes locked onto the monster’s, before the dragon snorts and pushes himself away.

Everything goes silent. Franky’s body lays protectively over Chopper and Usopp, his robotic eyes wide in panic at the swordsmith. Law’s chest heaves, his fingers trembling before him as the blue orb around them flickers in hesitation. Luffy’s mouth doesn’t seem to be working, his eyes shadowed with a pure shade of Gear-five-purple.

And then, something clicks.

Raya and Luffy stare at each other as if they’ve only just met now.

What is this feeling? A yearning to embrace, to fight, to magnetise, to be whole.

Zoro grunts out loud from beneath the rubble.

Raya’s head instantly snaps over to his voice, staring at the man who lays immobile on the ground through the hole.

He does not even dare to look away from the brown-eyed woman, even as he’s paralysed, leaving himself broken and vulnerable in her sight. Raya’s throat goes dry, dread rushing through her.

Aragnus then releases a head-splitting roar, swerving through the air between her and Luffy.

My brethren, he starts, we see them again. We see Nika, the first half of the Sun, the caller of seas, the God of Liberation.

He turns to Raya, and then does the unexpected. His head slams into rock in some sort of deep, eternal bow, his breath fluttering out in humiliating submission.

We see Cyra, the other half of the Sun, caller of ours, the Goddess of Retribution.

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theheartofone · 1 year ago

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I’m back!

You heard that right! I’m finally ripping off that hiatus label off from my chest and I’m ready to start cooking.

Finally, my last submission will be done by this week and I have never felt more ELEVATED and free than now. I’ve missed WRITING and One Piece, and my baby boy Zoro, and I’m already on the ball with writing the next chapter. Will be posted very shortly!

I also would like to mention that I already have one other OP fic I’ve been boiling over in my restless albeit rinsed brain, one to do with a very certain sleep-deprived surgeon and a female with a very interesting devil fruit power. But that’ll happen very later on, after SiHV (;

I’m sorry I couldn’t respond to your lovely messages - I had to log off from everything to keep my head in the game for my bachelors degree :c However, I do truly thank you for your patience.

See you soon!

#zoro #one piece #one piece zoro #roronoa zoro #roronoa zoro x reader #sihv #zoro x raya #raya

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theheartofone · 1 year ago

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hi everyone!

hi guys ;o

I KNOW... i haven't been active. i did disappear without any warning, I'm so sorry! I'm graduating from uni in a few months and my last project submission is due in about two to three weeks, I'm ALSO writing a book (if you guys are interested in that, i'd love to talk about it on another post!) and things are just hectic in general.

however! i'm /SOMEWHAT/ back online, and i am indeed writing the next chapter to Raya and Zoro's story, so please do keep an eye out for a new chapter popping up on your tumblr or A03 feed. it'll be an interesting chapter in many ways - it might even surprise you... but that's I will say ;p

thank you again for all those who are still checking up and I really do apologise for putting you guys through this hiatus. to those who are enjoying this little story so far, I really appreciate it and it makes me giggling and kicking my feet whenever I read someone's comment about my work.

love you all. this was typed really quickly and not proof-read at all as I have to jump back to my uni work BUT I hope y'all understand <3333

#sihv #steel in her veins #zoro #update #raya #zoro x raya

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theheartofone · 1 year ago

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Steel in Her Veins, Chapter: Thirty-Five

Read On: AO3 | Table of Contents | Next Chapter

Characters: Fem!Reader x Roronoa Zoro

writer's notes: hi guys! i know, super late post. i've been super busy with things so it's been hard to juggle everything right now! but i'm still here - very much alive and still writing. i hope you enjoy this next chapter :p as always, would love to read your comments on this one!

Chapter Thirty-Five: A Surly Monster

A pair of long, large obsidian nails curve around the ship with an ear-shattering creak. Impatiently, the dragon snarls out, its dark wings tensely billowing outwards like a sparkling parachute, increasingly building its strong momentum to lift off.

Law stumbles out of the boys' quarters—if you can even call it that anymore, what with the Hearts pirates having to bunk beds with the Strawhats in an incredibly undersized room—his bare feet slapping against the wooden deck in alarm.

"What," he seethes, whilst the little nightcap on the top of his head trembles against the dragon's slapping wind, "the fuck have you gotten into now!?"

Zoro turns, eyebrow raised, and when his eyes land on the Surgeon of Death donning a dress robe that billows out dramatically in front of him—and not to mention that ridiculous little hat—he instantly shouts out in laughter.

Law's piercing eyes slink onto the swordsman. "You got something to say, asshole?"

Zoro keeps barking out like an animal out of control, which makes Raya snap her head around and gape at him as if she's never met this man before. Zoro shakes his head, a tear glistening in his eye. "Nice outfit, princess."

Law's face burns, his jaw tensing into a boulder of stone. "I'm going to kill you, you piece of—"

In a startling and teetering tilt to the ship, the dragon bellows out thunderously, its snout producing smoke that threatens to spill into fire. It retracts its claws—only one remaining hooked on the side of the Sunny—as its wet eyes tilt downwards to the two men who begin flailing off the ship.

Silence them, or I shall do it myself, the dragon grumbles hotly.

Raya shivers as she hears the voice in her skull again – deep, shattering and quite…. unsurprisingly, ill-tempered. She tilts her head back up at the heavy-shouldered force, and without even thinking of her own hot temper, she narrows her eyes back at him.

Quit talking through me, Raya bites out, ignoring the distant cries of the two men hanging onto the ship by a rotten, stray rope. You have no right to invade my mind like this.

The dragon bristles, blasting air from its snout. I am not your enemy, Human.

"Room!" Law forcefully cries out, his inked fingers stretching out, his feet flapping against nothing but air. "Sha—"

But before Law utters that one life-saving word, his hand, with no doing of his own, slams right into his face.

Control their tempers, the dragon repeats, his large eyeballs gleaming at Law, or I'll do more than place his hand in his mouth.

"Ugh, fuck!" Raya hisses, her knuckles turning white over the wooden railing. "Fine! Just hold the ship up properly!"

The dragon huffs out a cloud of smoke in response to Raya's demand, but it complies, adjusting its grip on the ship to stabilise it. Law and Zoro, now dangling precariously from the rope, exchange glares before scrambling back onto the deck.

Raya clenches her fists, still seething with frustration at the intrusion into her mind. "You better keep your end of the bargain," she warns the dragon, her voice laced with venom.

Deal with your companions, and I shall refrain from further interference.

With a heavy sigh, Raya turns her attention to Law and Zoro; standing sheepishly on the deck, they try to regain their composure through manly coughs and throat clearing.

Raya raises a finger at them. "You two," she begins, her voice tight with irritation, "need to get your shit together. I'm in the middle of figuring out what these bloody beasts want with me, and you're both itching for a stupid fight."

Law bristles and takes an accusatory step forward. "But he's the one who started—"

"Boohoo, now go kiss and make up," Raya snaps. She sighs and takes a moment to compose herself, softly leaning her hips against the wooden rail. "Look, these dragons have some sort of business with me. The only reason you guys are here right now with me - and not stranded in Gods knows where - is because— Oh, for fuck's sake, Roronoa, put your swords away."

"We're heading to their den, aren't we?" Zoro mutters. "We gotta be prepared."

"If you don't slide those swords back into their pretty little sheathes, I will eviscerate them again," Raya calmly says, narrowing her eyes. "And this time, Roronoa, I won't fix them."

Silence.

Law silently gives Zoro a curious side-eye, waiting with Raya for his next move.

The shink! of steel brushing against leather slides in slow, reluctant, movements, following with a tight snap, as the swords burrow themselves securely into their respective homes.

Raya smirks, sarcastically pouting back at Zoro's grumpy frown. "Good talk."

She looks over to the portholes behind Zoro and Law, realising that Nami, Usopp and Bepo's bewildered faces are staring out from the safety of their sleeping quarters. Raya sighs, stretching her fingers out by her sides. "Alright, let's go and fill the others in."

☆

"THIS IS SOOOOOO COOOOL!" Luffy yells, his voice echoing off into the depths of the cavern.

"Shut up, Luffy! Don't wake them up," Usopp quickly hisses as his legs shakingly clamber down the ship's ladder.

"But they're already awake?" Bepo mentions, staring wide-eyed at a colossal dragon that flies past their eyes.

"Shut up," Usopp panickily repeats, slamming his eyes shut as he feels the heavy breath of the dragon hit his face. "You're lying. You're lying. I can't see anything."

"I mean, I guess I won't be needing a lighter anymore." Sanji grins, reaching his cigarette out to a random sprout of fire that dances across the surface of a rock. "It's not too bad, Usopp. You could be the Strawhat's dessert, if you wanted to," he taunts with an evil grin plastered on his face.

Usopp pales. “Des… Dessert?”

"Hold on..." Brook looks around, his jaw dropping. "Where did Luffy go?"

"Don't worry," Robin smiles, waving her hand. "Franky's babysitting."

"This…This is incredible," Raya dazedly mutters to herself, entranced by the vast expanse of rock and fire.

The cavern is enormous – fit to house five hundred dragons, to be exact. It's so big that Raya can see a few dragons soar through as little specks of shimmering colour.

As Raya steps into the stomach-dropping view, her senses are immediately overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of its grandeur. The cavern stretches before her like the yawning mouth of some ancient titan, its walls jagged and imposing, veined with veins of glimmering minerals that catch the flickering light from the fiery pits below.

Above, the ceiling disappears into darkness, lost to the depths of the earth, while below, the floor is a chaotic mosaic of molten rock and glowing embers, casting an eerie orange glow that dances across the cavern walls. The air is thick with the acrid scent of sulphur, punctuated by the occasional roar of a passing dragon and the crackling of flames.

Clusters of stalactites hang like icicles from the ceiling, their tips glistening with droplets of molten rock that drip into the fiery chasms below. Columns of stone rise up from the depths, their surfaces scarred and pitted from centuries of exposure to the elements.

But what truly captures Raya's attention are the dragons themselves. Massive beasts of every size and colour, their scales gleaming like jewels in the dim light, their wings spanning the length of several ships as they soar effortlessly through the cavern. Some lounge lazily on rocky outcrops, their eyes gleaming with a predatory intelligence, while others dart through the air with lightning speed, their forms blurred by the heat haze rising from the molten rock below.

Human, the familiar voice rumbles out, spinning Raya's head back into reality. Look at me, Human.

Suddenly, the colossal obsidian dragon reappears again, making Chopper and Brook screech out in surprise. It hovers in front of Raya with a slightly tilted head, almost as if he's offering some sort of respect. His wet eyes lock onto hers, his wings flapping in rhythmic movements, and silence fills Raya's ears as if a melody is playing that she is forbidden to listen to.

Raya holds her breath, feeling the warmth of his snout blow her hair backwards. She doesn't respond to his telepathic intrusion; she only stares.

The black dragon breathes out again, an odd similarity to a tired, human sigh.

Get on my back, he says. We have much to discuss.

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theheartofone · 1 year ago

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hectic update

hello ! apologies for the late upload buuuuut work is hectic atm and i’m trying to juggle a looot on my plate rn!! buuuut a chapter will be posted soon so pls bear w me 😔😘

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theheartofone · 1 year ago

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Steel in Her Veins, Chapter: Thirty-Four

Read On: AO3 | Table of Contents | Next Chapter

Characters: Fem!Reader x Roronoa Zoro

Chapter Thirty-Four: Aragnus

All she can think of is him.

He plagues her in her sleep. Comatose and unkempt, all her body is able to do is toss and turn, drink and re-drink each memorised plane of his body.

His hands. Large and calloused and firm – in another lifetime, she really would’ve complimented them. She would’ve held her fingers over them, quietly sliding over each scar, over each section of where his skin regrew to be tougher, to be stronger, to be… better.

Oh, and the way those very hands travelled across her jaw; his rough, heavy fingers curling across her throat as he held in his own admiring breaths reserved for her. They felt firm on her skin - yet in the way they lingered, they could only be described as soft, tender almost. It was as if they were self-assured, that in that moment, she was his, and nothing could take that away from him.

His mouth. His jaw. The way he’d silently part his lips and pant out repressed breaths as he’d loom over her, and when he stared at her like he’d never seen someone so delicious as her, consumed by the lust that even the strongest men are rendered vulnerable to…well, something tore within her.

Constant dreams. Of his breath laying hot against her skin, his large back curling over her body. His shoulder blades flex as his lips near the shell of her ear. And with each pant he released into her, another wall between them broke.

Hard kisses and shivering gasps and intensely gripped at hair. Bare skin brushing against bare skin, lips crossing across lips like wind that delicately brushes through long grass.

A swell of something inside her grows as she turns in her sleep again, her psyche desperately clawing at the vision that lays before her - begging, pleading, for it not to dissolve into some man-told fiction.

It’s a constant and repetitive dream, lasting for days on end. And when Raya finally stirs from her own relentless mind, she wakes up gasping, her torso shooting up from the bed.

Raya gasps heavily, blinking confusedly within the darkness of the medical cabin. It’s silent here, the only source of noise being from her own fearful mouth that inhales all the oxygen of the room.

She feels hot – too hot, uncomfortably hot in a way that feels like her body is on fire. On fire with anger, with lust and confusion and heat, and everything in between, every single thought and feeling is relentlessly aflame.

And so, Raya makes a run for it.

Plagued by the intensity of her own blood and skin, she swings her legs over and stumbles out on the night-ridden deck, where she’s immediately slapped in the face with a gust of freezing air.

Wearing nothing but a long shirt and socks, Raya stands on the deck, shivering. A repulsive sensation of the wind mingling in with her sticky sweat irritates her even further, making her look down and curse at herself for leaving the room without putting any pants on.

But when Raya inspects the skin on her legs closely, narrowing her eyes in suspicion, a sense of dread washes over her. Because her legs aren’t just bare, no. They’re glistening, with metallic protrusions threateningly spiking out from her skin.

Since when did it grow out of her legs, too?

“You should be asleep,” a deep voice mutters out from behind her, the heaviness of his boots creaking against the wooden surface of the dock.

Raya’s heart trembles.

Because she knows whose voice that is.

Raya spins around clumsily, meeting with the face she only stopped obsessing over a few moments ago.

Her breath catches in her throat as she continues to stand stupidly in front of him - Zoro, meanwhile, tries his absolute best not to look at her legs, but his little glances downwards betray him.

“I…feel…” Raya swallows. She doesn’t know when or why she does it, but her legs automatically take a dizzy step towards Zoro. “I feel all wrong.”

She takes another step closer, taking in Zoro’s baffled furrow of his brows, his arms tightly folding against his chest as he quickly scans her over for any sign of injuries.

She stares at him. At his strong jaw, the thin scar that slits down his eye, the muscles that ripple from his neck, and the heat from within her pulsates, the sweat across her skin beading faster together in a desperate attempt to regulate herself.

Zoro clears his throat, feeling quite uncomfortable with being under her scrutinising eye. “Wrong?” He forces his gaze away from her half-naked form. “What’re you talking about?”

Raya tries her best to shrug as coolly as possible. The heat underneath her skin continues to pulsate as she roughly swallows, eyeing the muscles that run so perfectly through his arms. And, as if on their own command, her fingers raise towards Zoro’s face, gravitating towards the line of his thinly veiled scar.

“I… Everything feels so…”

Zoro gapes at her as he raises his own hand, grabbing her fingers before they reach his face. He shakes his head, unable to take his eyes off from her. “Raya… You should go back to sleep.”

"I can’t. Someone’s coming for me. I can feel it" Raya dazedly whispers, rising on the tips of her toes to reach his face. She nears his mouth, her fingers gently searching for respite in the nook of his shoulder. “But…but I…”

She can’t control herself anymore. The heat within her is too suffocating, and she needs a release more than ever.

So, softly, ever so gently, her lips lay against Zoro’s neck. Peppering his tan skin with light kisses, trailing so sensually towards his clothed chest, her voice softly muffles against his body. "But I can’t seem to care."

Zoro stands frozen in place, his mind reeling as Raya's lips press against his neck with a tender urgency that sends pleasure through his entire body. His heart pounds in his chest, his breath catching in his throat as he struggles to comprehend the sudden shift.

For a fleeting moment, he's overcome by a surge of conflicting emotions - confusion, desire, and a gnawing sense of unease that coils like a serpent in the pit of his stomach. He knows that something isn't right, that Raya isn't herself, but the intoxicating heat of her touch ignites a primal urge within him that he can't ignore.

As her soft lips trail down his neck, leaving a trail of fire in their wake, Zoro's resolve begins to waver. His muscles tense involuntarily, his hands twitching at his sides as he fights against the overwhelming tide of desire that threatens to consume him.

Zoro's voice emerges as a rasp, strained with a mixture of disbelief and arousal. "Tenguyama," he manages to force out, his words thick with restraint. "What the hell has gotten into you?"

In response, Raya's gaze intensifies as she searches for his eyes, her own filled with a desperate longing. With a swift movement, she pulls away from him, her breath still warm against his skin. "Are you uncomfortable?" she asks, her voice barely a whisper. "I can stop."

Zoro's cheeks flush hotly, his gaze darting away from her as he struggles to find the right words. "No!" he blurts out, his voice tinged with embarrassment. "That's not... I mean, it's not about that. You're just... not yourself right now."

“But I want you,” she murmurs softly, her arms hesitantly returning to rest across his shoulders, pulling him closer. “I want you.

But just as Zoro begins to speak, his words are swallowed by a deep, guttural groan escaping his lips. Raya’s mouth electrifies his senses as her lips press against his neck - harder this time - and begins roughly sucking at his skin, sucking so desperately, that even Raya muffles out a sigh of pleasure. With each stroke of her tongue, he feels an intoxicating wave of pleasure wash over him, rendering coherent thought impossible.

“Raya,” he hoarsely mumbles. He fights to suppress a mounting groan as she responds to her name with a teasing nip at his neck. “You’re not in the right mind—”

“Why do you never leave me alone?” Raya slurs softly against his neck. She kisses a tender spot from below his ear. “Even when I’m in a bloody coma, you’re still there. Burned into my retinas.”

With a low growl of desire, Zoro leans into Raya's touch, his hands sliding possessively over her hips as he pulls her closer. The feel of her soft skin beneath his fingertips sends a shiver of anticipation down his spine, igniting a fierce hunger within him that demands to be sated.

Before Zoro can open his mouth, a ferocious onslaught of wind consumes the sails of the ship, throwing the Sunny itself into a spinning plank of wood. Amidst the deafening roar of the tempest, all semblance of sound is devoured by the howling winds, leaving only a cacophony of chaos in its wake. With wide-eyed terror, Raya watches as the air itself seems to warp and distort, heralding the arrival of an unimaginable threat.

An enormous gasp escapes her lips as the surreal sight unfolds before her: a horde of colossal dragons descending upon them with breath-taking speed.

Each behemoth is a marvel of ferocity and power, their scales gleaming like molten gold in the pale moonlight as they carve through the tumultuous sky with deadly precision.

Zoro's hands move with practiced urgency, instinctively reaching for the comforting weight of his swords as he braces himself for the impending clash. Muscles taut with anticipation, he stands ready to defend against this otherworldly onslaught.

"What the fuck?" Zoro's voice booms above the tempest, his words swallowed by the roar of the wind. But even amidst the shock, his resolve remains unyielding, his gaze fixed on the approaching threat.

And then, Raya does the mistakeable. She locks eyes with the largest of the swarm, the darkest of the dragons.

The dragon, a towering titan among its brethren, commands the sky with a presence that defies description. Its scales, as dark as the abyss itself, seem to absorb the moonlight rather than reflect it, giving the creature an aura of ominous power. Each movement is fluid yet purposeful, its sinewy form twisting and coiling with a grace that belies its immense size.

As it descends upon the ship with lethal intent, the dragon's eyes burn with an intensity that pierces through the chaos like twin beacons of malevolence.

It is her, his voice rings in her mind.

Raya staggers backward, overwhelmed by the sudden intrusion into her mind. The dragons' voices reverberate within her skull, sending shockwaves of pain rippling through her consciousness. She clutches her head, her nails digging into her scalp as she struggles to block out the cacophony of voices assaulting her senses.

Another dragon swoops into her vision with a huff from his snout, almost as if sneering at her. She does not smell strong, Aragnus. Perhaps old age is catching up to your snout.

The large dragon roars furiously in response, his large, wet eyes narrowing at his red brother.

Do not ridicule me, smallthing! He thunders out loud in Raya’s mind, making her scream out in pain, desperately clawing at her ears to make it stop. Her talons do not lie.

Speak with the human, Aragunus, a feminine voice huffs out. With each of its exhale, plumes of smoke and flame billow forth, painting the night sky with a searing glow of impatience. She seems to be in pain.

"What are you doing?" Zoro yells, staring at Raya who’s gripping at her head in complete terror. “Grab a weapon, already!”

But Raya shakes her head, her eyes never leaving the dark behemoth that soars overhead. “No,” she whispers, her voice barely audible above the roar of the wind. “No. They’re here for me.”

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theheartofone · 1 year ago

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Steel in Her Veins, Chapter: Thirty-Three

Read On: AO3 | Table of Contents | Next Chapter

Characters: Fem!Reader x Roronoa Zoro

Chapter Thirty-Three: Sharp Metal, Be Damned

Zoro doesn’t know why he does it. Perhaps it comes from the pain that he had felt, from Raya’s thorned arms plunging into his, merging into an infinite circle of torture. Maybe it’s not that, but the way she’s moaning out in her sleep, blood and tears melding together on her face as the very definition of torture.

He watches her tremble in her unconscious state, her body spreading over his legs in cocooned fear. And he knows – he knows that if she were awake right now, he would not have this chance of watching her breaking apart so easily, so transparently.

He does not know, though, whether what he’s doing is right.

In a twisted way, he’s feeling touched.

He feels touched, to finally see her, the her that bears no façade – the her that can laugh purely and cry deeply and feel fear unapologetically.

But at the same time, he feels incredibly uncomfortable. Uncomfortable, knowing that if Raya was awake right now, he would not have been allowed to see this side of her so easily. She wouldn’t have been laying in his arms, shrapnel studding through his own scarred skin, and she definitely wouldn’t look as vulnerable as she’s looking now.

Would he want to be seen like this, unconscious - trembling and bleeding, moaning and crying, in front of the person he hates the most? The thought of it makes his stomach turn.

He silently looks down at her, lips pursed in thought, his hands slowly inching away from hers.

Zoro doesn’t know what to do. Whether to put her in the medic cabin alone, to battle with her own deep-seated issues, or… he should keep her in his arms, lying on the empty deck, and witness something that almost.... feels forbidden to his eyes.

Raya moves around, one of her hands gripping his arm, the other laying flatly on his chest.

And instantly, complete and utter pain sears through his own body. Without warning, the metal plunges in and cuts Zoro with such callous ferocity that it makes him take in a deep, hissing breath. Blood trickles out from beneath his shirt and on his arms from where her fingers touch.

He looks down, staring at her glimmering fingers. Her fingers, that look so innocent, so unaware of the pain they’re inflicting, that for some reason, it makes Zoro want to steel his resolve even more and block out the torturous throbs that they give.

Really, Zoro doesn’t know why he does it. He was meant to pick her up, carry her to the ship, and set her to rest—all away from the overwhelming herd of panic.

In one way or another, Zoro went off track. Suppose he could blame it on his lack of coordination skills, even if it isn’t true. Even if that’s the furthest from what really happened.

He slowly untangles an arm around her, and without thought, he places a hand over her prickly palm, softly disconnecting it from his chest.

He raises her hand to his lips with calm movements, uncaring of whether her talons stab through his cupped palm.

Raya moans out loud, but to Zoro’s surprise, she uses words this time. His warm breath bated, his lips pause a few millimetres away from her jagged skin.

“I… ’m sorry…” she mumbles.

And that was it. That was the trigger.

Zoro softly lays his lips on her fingers, kissing them – sharp metal, be damned – prolonging the moment as much as he can.

He lays another closed-mouth kiss against her fingers, softly brushing his lips over the coolness of her metallic arsenal.

“I know,” he whispers.

Her hand trembles in his grasp, the sharp edges of the metal digging into his skin, but Zoro doesn’t flinch. Instead, he continues to press soft kisses against her hand, his touch gentle and soothing.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers again, her voice barely above a breath, her closed eyes brimming with tears.

Zoro’s lips curve into a small, understanding smile as he gently lowers her hand back to the deck. His touch lingers for a moment longer before he pulls away. “I know,” he repeats softly, his voice filled with a warmth that surprises even him.

So much to be said - and some other things not.

At this moment, in one of those rare junctures in his life, Zoro truly feels afraid. She makes him feel afraid. Maybe a little angry, too, because never has he met someone as frustrating, as insufferable, as haughty as the likes of her – well, if you don’t count the shitty cook.

What’s more frustrating, though, is that this type of anger feels different to the one that’s reserved for Sanji. It feels more personal, more terrifying, more… fragile.

Zoro doesn’t deal well with fragility.

He stares down at her, sighing in reluctance. She’s got to go. To rest and get treated, and all that.

He looks at his own gaping wounds, the blood that still seeps out of him. He feels light-headed, odd discoloured spots coming into his own vision, but still, he pushes the pain into the back of his head and lunges into a stand with Raya in his arms.

Zoro’s boots creak heavily against the planks, his legs moving sluggishly towards Chopper’s workroom, making sure that at least Raya can rest properly.

Damn this woman. She may be fucking awful to be around, but he’d rather go see her snarling at him than see her buried deep in the ground. He doesn’t want to hear it again - those finalised, definite words confirming a person’s death. Similar to those awful, goddamned words he carries with himself to this day.

“Kuina is dead. She fell down the stairs.”

He gently lays her there against the white sheets. His breath is ragged as he watches her, the waves lapping silently around the curtails of the ship.

Then, all of a sudden, his knees hit the floor.

Is it the loss of blood that makes him fall so suddenly? Honestly, he doesn’t care - because, at this moment, he’s making sure she’s not going anywhere.

Moonlight filters in through the window, splitting into multiple rays as it lays softly against the brown colour of her hair and the honey-coloured skin of her fingers. He reaches for her wounded palm again, inching closer to taste the sensation of her fingertips against his.

“’M sorry,” she slurs out again.

“Me too,” he simply replies.

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theheartofone · 2 years ago

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Sobbing

Guys…

200 notes on SiHV and 4,000 reads on AO3!

I’m not crying, you are…

Seriously, thank you to all who have majorly supported this fic! Your comments mean SO MUCH to me, it feels like opening a present every time I see a notif. I feel like I’m a kid all over again 🥺.

Thank you, my lovely readers! There’s a lot more to come for SiHV, so buckle up your seatbelts, because you’re on for a RIDE.

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theheartofone · 2 years ago

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Steel in Her Veins, Chapter: Thirty-Two

Read On: AO3 | Table of Contents | Next Chapter

Characters: Fem!Reader x Roronoa Zoro

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Thorned

Metal. Hatching out from soft, fragile skin, splintering out like daggers from a suit of armour.

Raya breathes loudly, silently staring at her own hands. Watching it metamorphosise. In real time.

Blood trickles across her skin from each birthing of steel, pain consuming her body in constant throbs of torture. She says nothing, does nothing, but stare at it happening in paralysed fear.

“Go get my kit, Bepo,” Law bites out, his knees messily grounding into the sand. He darkly takes in Raya’s condition, eyes flickering across her skin in thought, his head subtly tilting towards the other doctor. “Chopper, your drug – what does it consist of?”

Luffy, drawn to the commotion, widens his eyes in admiration as he stares at the silver peeking through skin. “Woah, what are those on your hands, Swords? Is that a new weapon?”

“No, it’s not,” Law spits out, shooting Luffy daggers with his eyes. He immediately looks down to the reindeer. “What did you use?”

“Atropine and Mink salve,” Chopper alertly responds to Law, as he, too, sits before Raya. His hoofs gently take in Raya’s palms, frowning intensely. “Did you take your dose today, Raya?”

Luffy frowns at his response, realisation slowly dawning in on him of the severity of the scene before him.

“Raya… are you okay?” Luffy asks – in a much quieter voice this time – as he stumbles his way towards her.

“Um,” Raya swallows, her voice trembling. Her eyes flicker to Zoro, who doesn’t even spare a glance in her direction. She notices his arms folding even tighter against his chest as he stands amidst the lapping waves. “Yeah, about half an hour ago.”

“Her tolerance,” Law mutters, making Chopper nod his head in agreement. A panicked Bepo comes running from a distance, Law’s medical tools clasped in his big paws as his eyes tear up in fear for his long lost friend’s sake.

The doctor breathes out a sigh of relief as he accepts the pack from his second mate, and with quick fingers, he begins to unfold his flap of tools. “We need to determine the condition as fast as we can. No known cause, no known cure – I’ll be honest, this isn’t good.”

“Fuck,” Raya grits her teeth, her hands slightly trembling in the fluff of Choppers soft hooves. Another metallic spike lodges its way out of her skin, almost as if reacting to her sudden anxiety. “Why don’t you keep on scaring your patient, Law? It’s doing wonders for her.”

What am I going to do? Raya thinks, watching the blood trickle heavily against her skin. Chopper presses firmly on the edge of the metallic wound, making sure to not lodge the shrapnel further into her skin. This isn’t fair. I didn’t ask for any of this.

Suddenly, a warm hand rests on Raya’s shoulder.

She looks up, surprised, only to meet Luffy’s eyes.

Almost as if he’s read her mind, a soft, comforting smile sets on his lips, a bright look that promises her safety.

“You’re okay, Swords.” He smiles. “You’ll be the silver hedgehog of our crew, if they keep on growing outta you.”

And out of the blue, a flying hand comes into contact with Luffy’s head, smacking him so hard his head dislodges from his neck.

“Shut up, Luffy!” Nami yells.

“And here we were, thinking you were gonna be supportive for once,” Usopp sullenly mumbles, unimpressed.

As Law continues his examination, Zoro finally decides to walk towards the commotion, his arms so tensely folded together, the contours of his muscles bulge out in restrained fear.

"How did this happen?" he snaps, his gaze piercing as he directs his question at Raya.

Raya bristles at his accusatory tone, her jaw tightening as she meets his gaze head-on.

"What, you think I did this to myself?"

"I didn't say that," he replies. “But you sure as hell weren’t taking care of your hands when you were sharpening that sword before.”

“I’ve been sharpening swords my entire life, Roronoa. Spare me the lecture.”

“These conditions aren’t supposed to be triggered from physical wounds, either,” Robin gently intervenes, offering a comforting smile to both Zoro and Raya. She lifts the glittering tome in front of them – the one that they stole from the Shaman Island – and flips through the pages with delicate fingers. “According to the tome.”

Nami looks up at her, hope desperately grasping at her eyes. “Did you learn anything else? Does it talk about Raya’s condition at all?”

Robin shakes her head; worry takes over in the crease of her brows. “It only addresses basic mythic changes like metamorphosis.”

“Right, yeah, because that’s totally basic knowledge. You know, metamorphosis, something everyone knows about,” Usopp mumbles, gaping at Robin.

Raya's hands tremble slightly as she watches Law and Chopper work, holding in a painful breath, while Luffy silently rests his chin on her shoulder for moral support.

Zoro's gaze remains fixed on Raya, his earlier irritation tempered by a growing sense of concern.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?"

Law sighs heavily, his expression grave as he finishes his assessment.

"We need more information," he declares, his tone clipped and business-like. "Without knowing the cause, I can't offer any definitive treatment."

Raya's heart sinks at his words, the weight of her situation pressing down on her shoulders like a leaden blanket.

"But where do we even start?" she murmurs, her voice barely above a whisper.

Nami's eyes flash with realisation as she begins to mumble in a trance. "The guy I spoke to before," she softly mumbles. “The one who knows where Suki is. He knows something.”

Suki?

Raya’s heart stops, her whole body turning cold from hearing those words, before a whole flurry of metal shards pierce through her skin synchronously, making her scream out in bone-chilling pain.

“Raya!” Sanji shouts. He stares at the metal that now spreads to her arms like an uncontainable plague. He then glares at the Surgeon of Death, before furiously barking out, “Law, do something, for fuck’s sake!”

“Why don’t you stop yapping like a dog and let me do my job?” Law barks back, his narrowed in menacing slits.

But Raya doesn’t seem to be listening to them – instead, she continues to stare at Nami, her face growing paler by the moment. Blood drips onto her clothes like a monotonous metronome, her heart faintly beating in her chest, before she opens her mouth to speak.

“You know where Suki is?”

Nami looks at her worriedly, nodding softly. “Very vaguely — I mean, a potential spot on the map. I was going to tell you before, but then… I saw your hands…” her voice breaks, complete devastation taking over her composure. “We need to take you to that man, Raya. Gods save me, I’m going to find you a cure. And he might be the one who has it.”

Raya's breaths come in short, ragged gasps as she struggles to contain the agony coursing through her body. Each movement feels like a fresh onslaught of pain, the metallic protrusions from her skin digging deeper with every passing second.

No! Fuck the treatment! Fuck the concern over me! It’s Suki we need to save! She screams in her head. I’d rather die than prolong his torture further.

“No, Swords.” Luffy stares hard-eyed at Raya, almost terrifying in his assertive gaze. He moves his chin from her shoulder, looking at her face-to-face. “I’m not letting that happen.”

Raya gapes at him whilst still gasping from her pain. “I-I didn’t say anything, Luffy.”

He cocks his head at her. “But I heard your voice?”

Gods, he needs treatment more than I do.

His eyes flash up and grins in response. “See? That’s definitely you!”

“Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Zoro mutters, glaring between the swordsmith and his captain.

“You didn’t hear her?” Luffy frowns at him.

“Never mind that,” Raya forces out through clenched teeth, the pain hitting the very marrow of her bones. Another set of metallic teeth jut out from her arms, growing out like ruthless talons. “My old man is my top priority. Not my fucking arms. I swear to you, I’ll refuse any sort of medical treatment if I have to prove my point.”

Zoro scoffs out loud, almost letting his fury show through his calm composure.

“Yeah, no. That’s not happening,” he spits out, his jaw grinding together so hard Chopper begins to worry for his teeth.

Raya glares up at him, betrayal consuming her whole. If he’s so haunted by his own actions, then why’s he butting in?

“I thought we had an understanding, Roronoa,” she gasps out.

“No.” His nostrils flare, his face almost seeming drunk with anger. “Not at your expense, Tenguyama.”

Raya's breath hitches in her throat, a mix of pain and frustration swirling within her as she locks eyes with Zoro.

Zoro's expression hardens; he squares his shoulders, refusing to back down.

“Is this really what you think Suki wants? You, to needlessly die, for his sake?" he growls. “You wouldn’t be saving his life, no. You’d doom him to live a life as a broken man.”

Beat.

And Raya screams out in pure, uncontrolled fury, swiping her palms away from both doctors. She screams out so furiously, the tears that spill from her eyes are thick with fire.

She bellows into the air, so fiercely, so wildly, that the winds around her grow in such tumultuous speeds, swirling out so heavily around everyone, that Luffy’s hat almost disappears into its swallowing mouth.

“Who are you, to tell me that?” she yells out loud. And almost majestically, her feet raise from the sand.

Her eyes glow with whites and oranges as she floats within her own tempest. “You are insufferable.”

“Get down! Right now!” Law bellows at everyone, pulling himself and Bepo down to the sand. “She’s possessed!”

“Raya!” Nami screams as she scrambles for her hovering body, but before she gets anywhere near Raya, Luffy roughly tugs at her away in his arms.

“What the fuck?” Usopp screams, slamming his body to the ground with Chopper underneath his harm.

Raya does not know where she or who she is. She is simply elemental. She is both human and non-human.

And, as she rises higher and higher into the sky, her eyes blazing in a distant trance, the blood in drains from her faster and faster. She howls like the winds amongst her, cries like the way her own metal stabs at her, and all the same, she is confined to a frail human body that offers many limitations and very little freedom.

One of the limitations being blood.

Raya then collapses to the floor, no pupils found in the midst of the whiteness of her eyes.

Beat.

Zoro gathers her up in his arms, the metal from her body burrowing deeply into his own skin. He freezes in his spot for a second, allowing the metal to sink its teeth all the way into his body, allowing Raya’s complete pain to transfer into him.

And with no reaction – with no expression on his stern face, and no sound made from his clamped down mouth, he slowly moves, the shrapnels of her steel now lodged deeply in his own bloodstream.

And without even a look to the others, he walks back to the ship, with the thorned girl laying stricken in his bleeding arms.

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theheartofone · 2 years ago

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Steel in Her Veins, Chapter: Thirty-One

Read On: AO3 | Table of Contents | Next Chapter

Characters: Fem!Reader x Roronoa Zoro

Chapter Thirty-One: Rubber

A myriad of packeted rubbers lay scattered across the table.

Chopper, usually the picture of innocence, squirms uncomfortably in his seat, his eyes fixed on the desk before him as he embarks on what is undoubtedly the most awkward conversation of his young life.

“So… when a male and a female engage in intimate intercourse…” Chopper quickly squeaks, his eyes firmly glued to his desk. “At the height of their stimulation, there’s something that occurs, called ‘ejaculat—’”

“Please. Please make it stop.” Raya’s stricken voice comes out in restrained muffles through the air-locked seal of her hands, whirls of hot steam continuously needling out from the gaps of her fingers.

“Ch-Chopper, it’s not what you think,” Zoro blurts out, squirming uncomfortably in his undersized chair. “W-we were just... training. Yeah – yeah, we… we were sparring.”

Raya’s mouth gives way to a miserable moan, shooting the samurai a withering glare from between her blackened fingers. “No. You’re stupid. You’re actually stupid. I think it’s finally hit me.”

Zoro’s eyes narrow as he turns his head, his expression forming a menacing snarl. He’s about to unleash a sharp retort when Chopper, sensing the tension mounting between the two, quickly intervenes. The little doctor knows all too well what’s coming next - another pointless squabble that would only serve to further strain their already fraught relationship.

With a quick dart of his furry little frame, Chopper positions himself squarely between the two, effectively diffusing the situation before it can escalate any further.

“Zoro. Training?” Chopper repeats, his tone sceptical. “C-completely naked?”

Zoro pauses. Slowly, almost comedically, red begins to colour the samurai’s face as he splutters for an explanation, something – anything – to get out of this Gods awful sex-talk with Chopper.

“Uh... well, yeah, you know...” he stammers, his words faltering under both Raya and Chopper’s unwavering scrutiny. “Sword-fighting… Cardio… Practicing… You know…”

“Just stop,” Raya whispers, looking wholly ashen.

Chopper sighs and takes his little red hat off from his head.

“Guys, it’s not like I’m enjoying having to do this,” he began, his voice tinged with exasperation. “But as your doctor, it’s my responsibility to see that you’re both being… safe.”

The room falls into a suffocating silence, each word from Chopper hanging in the air like an impending storm. Zoro and Raya avoid each other’s eyes, the tension between them thickening with every passing moment.

Chopper clears his throat, his eyes darting between the two. “Are either of you… o-on any sort of contraceptive, by—”

“No!” Raya instantly interjects, growing redder by the second. She fumes in her seat, never thinking she’d be asked these questions by the one crewmate she could only see as an innocent baby boy.

Chopper’s eyes widen in disbelief as he realises the weight of her answer.

“B-But you both know how babies happen… right?” he chokes out.

And in an instant, Zoro’s throat tightens as he chokes on his own saliva, his eye bulging comically wide in sheer shock. Meanwhile, Raya buries her face deeper into her palms, as if trying to conceal herself from the embarrassment that engulfs the room. Thick, chugging clouds of smoke rise above her head, practically begging her to hop aboard the humility train.

“Chopper… Last night was really… irresponsible, I know. We drank too much, it was a really weird moment for us… and I know you mean well with these but…” Raya hesitantly nudges the condom packets toward Chopper, her movements betraying her discomfort. “What we did was a one-time thing. A mistake. A disaster. A poor—”

Zoro’s teeth grind together audibly, a deep growl bubbling up from the depths of his throat like a menacing animal. With a swift motion, he jerks his head to the side, fixing the awkward girl with a piercing glare that could rival the intensity of a thousand suns.

Insulting his prowess in the bedroom? He won’t let that slide.

“Funny. ’Cause I saw otherwise - when I had your lips wrapped tightly around my finger,” Zoro retorts through clenched teeth, his words dripping with pure bitterness. The following few words rumble out quieter from his lips, his body angling towards the warmth of her body. “Or did we forget that little moment?”

Raya’s eyes widen in horror as Zoro’s words hang heavy in the air, the heat of embarrassment consuming her hair like wildfire. Her mind races to comprehend what Zoro just said, struggling to grasp the reality of their drunken escapade.

“I-I don’t think we remembered last night quite too clearly, then,” Raya chokes out, her voice barely above a whisper as she stares straight ahead, unable to meet anyone’s gaze. “We were very intoxicated. We didn’t do such a thing.”

He crosses his arms, tilting his head at an angle as a smirk plays at the corners of his lips.

“Didn’t stop you from locking your legs around me so desperately,” he lowly whispers.

Chopper’s choked surprise fills the room, his tongue nearly rolling out of his mouth in disbelief, while Raya’s face flushes with rage at Zoro’s audacity. Her fists clench at her sides, nails digging into her palms as she struggles to contain her fury.

“You’re despicable,” she hisses, her voice dripping with venom.

Zoro’s smirk widens, his eyes glinting with amusement as he revels in their verbal sparring. “Oh, am I? Or are you just too ashamed to admit the truth?”

Chopper watches the exchange with growing concern, his brow furrowing as he searches for a way to diffuse the escalating tension between the two.

“Guys, come on,” he interjects weakly, his voice barely audible over the simmering hostility in the room. “Let’s-“

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Raya screams, sparks of fire engulfing her brows in menacing stabs. “You—you’re so… insufferable!”

Zoro shrugs nonchalantly, edging himself closer to her, his smirk never faltering in the face of her fury.

“And yet, you can’t seem to stay away.”

“Fuck you,” she spits out.

“Fuck you, too,” Zoro smirks, his tone mocking as he relishes in their verbal exchange. “How'd it go again after that? ‘Fuck m-’”

With a screech of a chair toppling over, Raya storms out of the medic cabin, her exit abrupt and final, leaving Zoro with his unfinished sentence hanging in the air.

But Raya’s fury is far from quenched. Like a hurricane flown from the burning hells, she lunges towards her smithing equipment in one smooth movement before hurtling down the deck, running away from anyone in her line of sight - until, she realises, that there seems to be virtually no other person on the deck.

She stands there aloof, looking around in complete silence.

No one's here. The Sunny, for once, creaks silently across the sea, with no trail of voices echoing against its lumber.

She looks around, scanning for clues and then suddenly, warmth spreads across her chest as the realisation kicks in.

She stares at the anchor that's lodged into the depths of the sea.

They’ve finally reached an island.

While she was in there, bickering with the stupid asshole, they were in the midst of anchoring. Law’s ship floats behind the Sunny, anchored to its tail like a sodden trail of misfortune, but the sand that brushes against its metal is undeniable.

It’s an island. A temporary escape. From... him.

And just as suddenly, she takes a flying leap out of the ship.

Her feet sink into warm, golden sand, enveloping her ankles in a soft embrace. The sensation is pure bliss, and for a moment, she forgets about everything else. The sun beats down on her skin, its intense heat offering a welcome respite from the cold, sterile walls of the ship.

And with a war cry, she begins running.

She runs so hard across the landscape that her lungs breathe fire, and her metals screech in desperation. Her legs kick from beneath her like a stallion in the midst of overgrown fields.

Everything’s a blur; the world spins, and her thoughts are all jumbled in a mess of unorganised breaths. For one moment, for one instant, she lets go.

For one moment, for one instant, she allows herself to forget everything.

She breathes in the saltiness of the air and lets her feet feel the warmth of the ground as it slowly paves its way into the corners of her pumping heart.

She lets go until she no longer can, when her legs can’t keep up with her anger, and her heart begs for respite, and all her metals go crashing against the dense ground.

The world is silent except for her loud breaths, and Raya stands there, staring helplessly at the glimmering sword.

She feels a sharp prickle behind her eyes, an unwelcome sensation threatening to spill over into tears.

What was she thinking?

Her chest heaves intensely.

What was she thinking, allowing herself to succumb to her wants, to desecrate a dynamic with a person that did not need meddling with?

What is she doing, enjoying herself? Grinning, and drinking, and talking, and tinkering away in her beautiful little workshop on the top of a beautiful ship; meanwhile, Suki is hanging onto his life by a thread.

She clenches her fists, the sand slipping through her fingers as she struggles to contain herself.

And why him? She could’ve chosen anyone… anyone except for him. And for some reason, she let her, what, lust take over?

Instantly, she shakes her head. She does not lust for Zoro. No. She won’t let that happen.

She falls into the warmth of the sand, the sun casting a golden glow over her skin, the waves lapping so warmly from a faraway distance. It’s been an eternity since she last felt the solid earth beneath her feet, an eternity spent adrift on the boundless sea. But this, she realises, is her reality now—a life suspended between sky and sea, all for the sake of him. For Suki.

All for the sake of Suki.

Her gaze drifts to the sword cradled in her lap, Suki’s sword, a silent testament to her unwavering belief in his survival. She’s avoided it until now, afraid of what its touch might awaken within her.

Today, however, she reaches out to it, her fingers tracing the contours of its hilt with a mixture of reverence and trepidation. She understands now that avoiding his belongings only serves to betray her dwindling resolve. And she won’t allow herself to do that. She’ll let anything else to break inside of her except for her faith in that old man’s life.

So she sets about her task with a determination born of desperation, each stroke of the blade a whispered prayer, a vow to keep it sharp and ready for Suki’s inevitable return. With each pass of the whetstone, she imbues it with her unwavering faith, willing it to serve as a promise to seeing him again.

She ignores the searing pain in her arm, the steady drip of blood from her wounded fingers, focusing solely on the task at hand. Raya ignores the blood that tears through the skin of her fingers as she ruthlessly continues to sharpen and refine the blade.

The world fades away, replaced by the rhythmic scrape of steel against stone, the only sound that matters in her universe of silver.

A sharp jab to her arm breaks her trance, the syringe containing Chopper’s temporary cure dully tumbling to the ground. But she hardly notices, her mind consumed by the singular purpose of her work. She presses on, her wounds growing bigger, her movements fuelled by determination and devotion, until the blade gleams with an otherworldly brilliance.

A pair of sandy footsteps soon break that trance.

As their eyes meet, countless emotions flicker across Raya’s face - a mixture of surprise, heated resignation, and a hint of vulnerability. Zoro stands before her, a stalwart figure against the backdrop of the sinking sun. His typically steely gaze softens, revealing a trace of concern that simmers beneath the surface.

Raya’s exhale is heavy with weariness as she leans her sword against her thigh, the weight of her exhaustion and frustration palpable in the air. “I’m really not up for a fight right now,” she mutters, her voice carrying the burden of her fatigue. She raises a hand to shoo him away. “Off you go.”

Zoro’s response is swift, a shake of his head accompanied by a determined expression. “That’s not why I’m here.”

With deliberate steps, he closes the distance between them, his eyes narrowing as he notices the subtle tremor in her hands. His chest tightens with a mixture of concern and guilt as he observes the way her fingers clench and unclench, a silent testament to the turmoil raging within her.

And then he sees them – the raw wounds that mar her delicate skin, stark against the soft sand beneath their feet. His breath catches in his throat, a pang of distress coursing through him as he takes in the sight.

Clamping his teeth together, he suppresses the urge to voice his concern, his jaw tightening with resolve as he reaches for the worn bandana wrapped around his own arm. With practised movements, he unravels the cloth, his fingers tracing the frayed edges with reverence and regret.

Each fold of the fabric ruffles as his skin kisses hers. He wraps the bandana around her injured fingers with gentle yet purposeful movements, his touch tentative and uncharacteristically soft.

They sit in a cocoon of silence, the rhythmic melody of the waves crashing against the shore the only sound between them. Zoro’s gaze remains fixed on the ground, his fingers intertwined with hers in a silent symphony of solidarity.

Finally, breaking the stillness, Zoro’s voice cuts through the quiet like a gentle breeze.

“I went too far,” he confesses, his words barely above a whisper. “I’m sorry.”

Raya’s response is equally soft, tinged with exhaustion and resignation. “S’okay. Me too.”

The silence stretches on, punctuated only by the rhythmic sound of waves crashing against the shore. The salty scent of the sea fills the air, mingling with the fading warmth of the setting sun. Neither Zoro nor Raya feels the need to fill the void with words; simply being next to each other, sharing in the quiet peace of the moment, is enough for now.

Time seems to slow as they sit side by side, watching as the sky transforms into a canvas of vibrant colours, painted with orange, pink, and gold streaks. The horizon blurs, the boundary between sea and sky merging into an indistinct line.

Then, as the last remnants of daylight fade into dusk, Raya turns to Zoro, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. The weight of her question hangs heavy in the air, the gravity of her words palpable even in the fading light.

“Can I ask you a serious question?” she whispers, her voice barely audible above the gentle rustle of the breeze. Zoro meets her gaze, his expression softening with concern and curiosity. He nods, wordlessly encouraging her to continue.

The tension between them crackles like electricity, a palpable energy charging the air around them. Raya’s heart pounds in her chest, and the anticipation of Zoro’s response causes her breath to catch in her throat. She searches his face for any sign of his feelings, but his expression remains inscrutable, his eyes betraying nothing.

“How did you feel, really? Having to force yourself not to help Suki?” Her voice trembles with emotion, the vulnerability in her question laying bare the depths of her turmoil.

Instinctively, Zoro’s finger rises to brush away a stray tear from her cheek, his touch gentle and comforting. His gaze lingers on her lips for a moment, a fleeting and inexplicable hesitation flickering in his eyes.

He exhales heavily, his breath mingling with the salty air. “Haunted,” he admits, his voice weighted with a sense of heaviness. “I’m haunted by it.”

Raya’s chest tightens at his words, the weight of his confession sinking in like an anchor dragging her down. She feels a surge of emotion welling up inside her, but she suppresses it, unwilling to let herself unravel in front of him.

Silence envelops them once more, thick and palpable, as if it were a living, breathing entity settling between them. Raya’s nod is almost imperceptible, a subtle acknowledgement of the truth that lingers between them, a fragile bridge spanning the chasm of their unspoken words. It’s not an apology, but in that moment, it’s enough.

Zoro grunts softly, the sound breaking through the stillness like a stone cast into a placid pond. His gaze drifts to the sword nestled in Raya’s lap, a relic of a haunted past.

“Is that your old man’s?”

Raya’s eyes follow his, a bittersweet smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

“Yeah,” she replies quietly, her voice a whisper carried by the breeze. “Just freshening her up before she reunites with her owner.”

Zoro nods, his fingers inching closer to the gleaming metal as if drawn by an invisible force.

“How... how do you get it so sharp?” he asks, his curiosity piqued by the intricacies of blade maintenance. There’s a genuine fascination in his voice, a hunger for knowledge tempered by a deep-seated respect for the craftsmanship before him.

A faint smirk dances across Raya’s lips, her eyes alight with a mischievous glint. “Wow, Roronoa. You wanna learn? From me?” she teases. “Are you sure? I might stab you in the back once I catch you off-guard.”

Zoro shrugs nonchalantly, though his eyes betray a hint of genuine interest. “You do that, I’ll cut your equipment in half again.”

Raya’s laughter dances on the breeze, a melody of warmth amidst the cooling evening air. “Fair warning, then. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she quips, her eyes alight with playful mischief as they lock with Zoro’s.

With a gentle touch, Raya guides Zoro’s hands, each movement purposeful and sure. She demonstrates the art of blade maintenance with practiced precision, her guidance a testament to her skill and expertise.

Their proximity grows intimate as they work together, a silent understanding passing between them with each shared moment. It’s a dance of mentorship and camaraderie, their movements fluid and harmonious.

From behind, their silhouettes merge into one—a small bear embracing a larger one. Raya’s slender form nestles against Zoro’s broad shoulders, her breath soft against his skin as she leans in to inspect the sword. Zoro’s heart quickens at the closeness, his senses heightened by her presence.

Their hands, a study in contrast, find a natural rhythm as they interlace. Zoro’s rough, calloused palms envelop Raya’s calloused fingers, their touch a symphony of strength and grace.

“So what you gotta do first, is hold her like this...”

For a brief instant, time seems to stand still as they linger in the quiet intimacy of the moment. The gentle rhythm of their breaths mingles with the soft scrape of metal against stone, creating a symphony of sound that fills the air around them.

“So,” Zoro clears his throat, breaking the tranquil silence, “When’s my last sword gonna be fixed?”

The question hangs in the air, and Raya feels the air go out of her lungs. “Soon, I think,” she manages to force out, her voice strained with the weight of unspoken emotions.

Zoro’s brow furrows slightly at her response, a flicker of concern dancing in his eyes. “You know,” he murmurs almost to himself, his gaze distant as if lost in thought, “I wish you fixed that one first.”

Raya’s curiosity is piqued, her gaze narrowing slightly as she meets his eyes. “Why’s that?” she questions, her voice tinged with suspicion.

“Nothing, really. It… belonged to someone I knew,” Zoro replies cryptically, his voice barely above a whisper - as if sharing a secret too precious to speak aloud.

A surge of surprise courses through Raya, her heart skipping a beat at the unexpected revelation. “Who?” she demands, her voice trembling. “W-who? What was their name?”

Zoro pauses, turning to face her fully. His breath lays warmly against her skin, lips barely millimetres apart as he regards her with a questioning frown.

“Why d’ya wanna know so bad?”

Raya shakes her head, her eyes locked with his. “Tell me,” she implores, her voice barely above a whisper. “Her name. Tell me her name.”

Zoro’s eyes narrow at her persistence, but he leans closer, curiosity evident in his gaze.

“Kuina,” he answers quietly.

Before Raya can process the significance of his words, a sudden, sharp jolt runs through Zoro’s body, causing her to gasp in shock. Zoro recoils, his hand jerking back as if stung by unseen forces. His eyes widen in shock, accusingly locking with Raya’s.

She looks down, her heart pounding in panic. Blood seeps through Zoro’s palms, a gaping wound tearing through his skin.

Her hands come into view, and for a second, it feels like her body has stopped functioning.

She stares at her blackened palm, slightly tilting it under the light to see it… shining.

Silver adorns her skin like scales, glittering in what could only be called a menacing set of sharp steel.

“Raya! Raya!” Nami cries as she hurtles towards them from the forest, her words tumbling out in a frantic rush. “There’s a lead! I found a lead – I-I… Raya…?”

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