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with nightfall, peace finally broke out over the vast ocean and the strawhats finally found their well deserved time to relax.
after dinner, everyone was gathered in a circle on the deck of the sunny, seated on the gras and enjoying some drinks, when usopp brought up the idea of playing some cards.
you sat cross-legged between robin and jinbei. next to robin was franky, usopp, brook and then chopper; to jinbei's side where sanji, nami, luffy and in the middle, right across from you, was zoro.
everybody was enjoying themselves, laughing, drinking, making fun of whoever had lost the previous round and so on. you were the one who had won most of the rounds so far, a light blush on your cheeks when franky pointed this out.
,,I guess I just have a lot of luck today,'' you replied sheepishly. ,,or it's not just a game of luck and I'm a genius,'' you added with a small grin.
your smile grew wider as you watched everyone laugh at your joke, feeling a slim heat rise on your cheeks as your gaze fell to zoro who was laughing loudly too. you were glad he'd liked your little comment since hearing his laughter or seeing him smile was always comforting to you.
as the evening went on and you continued to play round after round, you started to grow a little tired. your eyes were half lidded and you had to restrain yourself from yawning every five minutes.
since everyone was caught up in the game, no one noticed your tiredness -except for the green haired swordsman, who'd been keeping his good eye onto you for a while now. you hadn't realized though, being too focused on trying to stay awake.
two minutes into the new round and you had already won again -to your surprise, since it was hard to even see the cards in front of you through your blurry eyes. you were going to watch the others, but it was exhausting to keep yourself seated up, so you stretched your arms and back shortly, before moving to lay down on your side, placing your head on top of your hands. but before sanji could draw a new card from the deck, your eyes flew shut and you drifted off.
,,oi, y/n, you ready for another rou-oh?'' luffy called out to you, looking over at you, but even his beaming voice wasn't enough to wake you.
,,is she asleep?'' he then quietly asked.
everyone's eyes where on you now.
,,seems like it,'' robin chuckled softly.
,,should we wake her?'' chopper innocently voiced.
but before the captain could get to his feet to make his way over to you in order to wake you up, zoro placed his hand on luffy's shoulder to keep him seated, rising to his feet himself.
luffy and everyone else looked up at zoro with a questioning expression.
without saying a word the green-haired man stepped forward and made his way towards your sleeping form. everyone's gaze eagerly followed behind him.
he crouched down in front of you, gently pushing his hands under your back and legs before slowly lifting you up into his arms.
again, without saying anything, he turned back around about to make his way towards the stairs that led to the cabins.
,,oi, marimo, what do you think you're doing?'' sanji cut in loudly, wanting to get up but nami quickly held him down.
,,shut up, stupid cook, or do you wanna wake her up?'' zoro boldly replied before continuing his way without another word from either him or the others, leaving them behind rather puzzled.
zoro had already carried you halfway down the stairs when you opened your eye slightly to get a glimpse at him.
you'd already awoken at the sudden touch and lift when he'd picked you up, but you had relaxed almost immediately the second you saw it was zoro.
relaxed -that was as far as for your heart pounding in your chest. his hands rested gently on the side of your thigh and upper arm, while his strong arms were wrapped around you tightly, but not crushing you. it felt as though he was squeezing you to his chest.
your cheeks heated up when you opened your eyes more to look up at him. eyes following his defined jawline, to his ear where his three golden earrings where dangling to the rhythm of the steps he was carrying you downwards.
then your gaze went further. you inspected the scar on his left eye from afar, imagining yourself lightly stroking over it with the tips of your fingers.
then you noticed a movement on his right side, when his good eye narrowed at you. panicking, you immediately closed your eyes again and pretended to still be asleep.
zoro only smirked at you, seeing your cheeks turned even redder, before looking back up and carrying you to your room.
having finally reached your door, he gently kicked it open as to not make too much of a ruckus. he stepped inside, the moonlight shining in from your window enveloping the room in a soft blue-ish light.
you were surprised he'd even found your room this quickly and almost chuckled at the thought of him getting lost on the ship with you in his arms, trying to find your room.
zoro lightly kicked the door almost entirely shut before slowly making his way through your room to your bed, making sure not to trip over something in the dim light.
when he had reached it, he pondered for a moment before just leaning forward awkwardly, shifting you slightly in his arms.
you felt your back softly hit the mattress, then suddenly be weighted down onto the bed by zoro, who had somehow stumbled into your bed frame, tumbling over with you while letting out a surprised grunt.
he quickly moved his hand from under your legs though, managing to place his hand onto your bed, now hovering slightly above you, his other hand still under your back.
it took all you had to not break out into laughter right then and there. you managed to keep your eyes closed and lips pressed together, pretending to still be fast asleep.
you heard Zoro quietly curse to himself, as he pushed himself up, his hand moving from under your back, while he took a step back.
you wanted to wince at the loss of contact with him, but kept your composure.
you parted your lips slightly, tilting your head to the side trying your best to look as cute as possible in your „sleep".
zoro looked down at you, smiling softly while a light blush crept onto his cheeks as he saw your „sleeping" form.
then he turned away, about to make his way to leave.
you opened your eyes slightly the moment you felt his presence shift, raising an eyebrow as you saw him turning away.
was he just gonna leave you like this on the bed? without a blanket?
as Zoro began to make his way toward your door, you quickly sat up and grabbed the bottom of his hakama.
zoro felt the tug at his clothes, immediately stoping in his tracks as he craned his neck to look back at you, an eyebrow raised.
you were sat on all four, except your hand holding the green fabric, pouting at him.
now zoro turned his body more around to you, his eyebrow still raised.
„aren't you gonna tug me in?"
you asked, looking at him with puppy-eyes.
even in the dim light in your room you could see the red creep up on his cheeks.
„oi, what are you saying, idiot? I thought you were asleep! aren't you supposed to be tired?"
you leaned back, letting go of his hakama, seating yourself on your legs.
„I am tired! but it's cold and I can't sleep when I'm freezing."
his eye twitched shortly, but his expression wasn't that of anger. he was still slightly blushing.
„well then, help yourself! you got a blanket in here and all."
you crossed your arms in front of your chest.
„so you were just gonna leave me here, uncovered on my bed? making me wake up, get up, out of my bed, instead of just putting me under the blanket?"
„you could've already done it yourself instead of arguing with me, damnit!"
„but zooorooo," you whined, even though a small grin appeared on your face.
„oi, oi, alright, you win," he sighed, admitting defeat before approaching you again.
you smiled happily, letting out a soft 'yay', as you lifted your arms.
he was confused again for a second, looking down at you.
„go on, pick me up," you urged him.
zoro decided to not even try to protest this time, leaning down to let you loop your arms around his neck while he gently put his around your back.
your face pressed against the side of his neck, you couldn't see him blush once again, as you put your legs around his waist, pressing your chest to his.
you let out a content sigh as he tenderly lifted you up in his arms. feeling a warm blush on your own cheeks now.
he moved one of his hands more down your back, pressing you a tad closer to himself, before his other hand left your back.
with now only one arm he held you up against himself while his other lifted your blanket to pull it back a bit.
you held more tightly onto him, not wanting to let go of him and his warmth, as he bend down again to place you onto your bed.
„oi, y/n, you gotta let go now," he grunted lowly, still you heard the smile in his voice.
„yeah, yeah, I know. shut up, mosshead," you chuckled softly, unlooping your legs and arms.
he leaned back, avoiding eye contact with you, moving his hand to grab the blanket.
you wriggled yourself into the sheets, while zoro carefully pulled the blanket up to your shoulders.
your hands crept up from under it to grab at the fabric at the top.
„thank you, roro" you giggled quietly.
a soft pink started to dust his cheeks again at the nickname. he turned his face toward you.
„you're welcome, greedy brat. now go back to sleep already!"
„okay, fine!"
you playfully stuck your tongue out at him.
„wow, very mature," he chuckled, sticking his tongue out too.
you laughed at that, before snuggling more into the soft fabric around you, yawning.
„yeah, okay, you're right. maybe I am tired."
he smiled softly at you, „yeah, good night, y/n"
„good night, roro," you breathed closing your eyes, only halfway, but so that he wouldn't notice.
zoro sighed contently, smiling to himself before he turned to leave once again.
you watched his back through half lidded eyes and when he reached the door you opened them completely again.
„zoro?" you spoke up softly again.
he stopped again, his hand dropping from the doorknob, as he turned his head toward you.
„hm?" he softly hummed.
„I'm still cold," you plead softly, peaking out from under your sheets.
„wh- oi- what the hell do you want me to do about that now?!" he stammered, his face turning a shade of red again.
„come over here," you moved a bit to the side, making room on your bed.
„warm me for a while, please?"
he was blushing madly now.
„what the hell? no! go get another blanket. I'm not your heater, dumbass."
„zoro, please, just come over here," you whined.
he crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking to the side, face still red.
„no. I'm not getting in the same bed as you. what are you thinking?"
„Please, only for a while. you can leave when I'm warm enough or asleep."
he shook his head.
„y/n, I-"
„please, zoro."
you had that look on your face. that look zoro couldn't resist. you lips were parted, a slight pout on them. your e/c eyes were gleaming, he could see it even from further away. you weren't quiet scared, or begging for help, but it did remind him of when he first me you, and how you asked to join the crew. something had sparked in him that day.
„fine," he uncrossed his arms and made his way back over to you.
„but only for a while," he added, taking his swords off and putting them against your nightstand so he could still keep an eye on them.
a wide grin spread across your face and you lifted your blanket, urging him to settle under the sheets already.
he climbed into your bed carefully, laying on his back, rather stiffly, though putting his hands behind his head.
you smiled and snuggled closer to him, daring to rest your head on his chest.
„oi, oi," he startled slightly, your head still
remaining in place though, „what are you doing? I'm not cuddling you, dumbass."
„that's fine," you sighed, snuggling even closer against him and resting your hand on his torso as well, your cheek still on his chest.
„I like this either way," you yawned, finally closing your eyes, ready to sleep.
it stayed like this for a while, silent. neither of you moving besides your chest softly rising and falling, your steady breath slightly tickling the exposed part of zoro's torso; and his stiff form, chest also rising and falling but rather unsteady as he was almost holding his breath nervously.
you were asleep already, your hand moving again to wrap further around zoro's body, your face nuzzling more and more into his skin, as you whispered a soft "I love you, zoro" in your sleep.
normally, your confession would have made him blush madly, but right now he didn't want to stir and wake you. you were so soft against his stern muscles and rough skin. you needed him to protect you right now and he would do so until his last breath.
you were part of his crew, his nakama, of course he would protect you. but you were also someone he loved, dearly, romantically, as nami had opened his eyes for him a while ago. you meant so much to him.
he sighed relieved, his tension wearing off, he put his arm around you to pull you closer.
you snuggled deeper again at his touch, mumbling "I love you" again.
he chuckled quietly, now putting his other arm around you too, moving onto his side so that your were snuggled against his chest, his arms protectingly holding you.
„I love you too, y/n. so much."
he kissed the crown of your head after that, pulling you too his chest and resting his chin on top of your head, closing his eyes.
now that he was sure he had you, he wouldn't let you go anymore, not ever.
-bonus!!-
the next morning, you didn't wake up to the sun lightly shining through your window and warming your cheek softly, or because of the faint smell of sake still on zoro as he embraced you. no, not even to your slow realization that ziro was, in fact, very much embracing you tenderly in his arms, having you pulled so close to his chest, both of his arms tenderly wrapped around your form, his head resting on top of yours.
no, you woke up to the sound of quiet laughter and giggling, as well as a general sound of ruckus.
you opened your eyes abruptly, your head shooting up immediately while you sat up, quickly pulling yourself out of zoro's grip.
your gaze was met with the rest of the crew. all of them, standing halfway in your room and doorframe.
you just managed to stare blankly at them, while they had fallen silent now that you were awake.
of course, your panicked movements woke zoro up too (obviously not everything else, c'mon it's zoro we're talking about).
„oi, y/n, the hell's going on? 's something wrong?" his head lifted slightly as he rubbed his right eye.
"are we being attacked or what?"
you swallowed audibly.
"not quite," was all you managed to say before another voice cut through the air.
„SUUUUUUUPERRRRRRR!!" franky yelled out, pulling zoro's attention to everyone.
a the heat spread to your face, your eyes flashed to franky, who was obviously super excited.
next to him was chopper, who seemed innocently lost, more so over everyone's excitement rather than you and zoro.
excited, that was, except for sanji; who seemed to be throwing an enormous fit, only being held back by nami -again- who simultaneously accepted a few berry from usopp. the sniper was obviously angry about nami's smug antics about winning the bet, but turned to you with a smile regardless, giving you a thumbs up.
your eyes then shifted to brook, who was just laughing hysterically at the scenario going on at the moment.
then your eyes darted to Robin, who had a very soft, fond smile on her face. if you were able to blush even more than you already were, you would've.
beside robin you met jinbei's expression, also a very kind smile as well as slight rosy cheeks on his blue face.
and then there was your captain.
lost. absolutely lost. he had no idea what was actually going on, but was smiling as brightly as ever, his beaming laugh now echoing through the room.
luffy cheerfully waddling his way over to the two of you, coming to a halt at zoro's side, who by now had properly sat himself up as well.
„oi, oi, zoro," Luffy yelled in between laughs, hitting zoro on the back of his shoulder all the while.
„did you seriously manage to get lost on our sunny trying to get to your room?"
the strawhat's signature laugh echoed through the room.
"oi, what are you thinking, you-" zoro yelled, shoving luffy's hand away roughly.
he just laughed and took a step back.
„what are you even doing in here?!”
zoro now turned to the others as well.
"get the hell out of here!"
they began laughing and snickering again; you were now hiding your face in your hands, adverting your gaze to the side, the burning heat creeping up more and more from your neck with every passing second.
while luffy and the rest of the crew kept giggling and snickering at you -that was except for sanji- zoro suddenly threw the blanket off of him and jumped out of the bed.
your captain jumped backwards at the motion, his hand now on his hat, still laughing sheepishly.
„oi, oi, oi! enough of that! get the hell out! now!" zoro yelled, shushing his captain away towards the others.
"zoro don't be mad, we just-" usopp began, but quickly shut his mouth as the swordsman started to make his way towards the group.
„get out! everyone!" zoro kept yelling, actually sounding more flustered rather than angry.
the crew all backed up, slowly making their way back out of your door. usopp was dragging sanji, who was about to start throwing a fit with zoro, out with him.
while luffy still didn't seem to exactly grasp the situation, he backed out with the others anyways, shouting „don't be late for breakfast, you sleepyheads!" at you before zoro closed the door in his face.
you wanted to disintegrate on the spot. your face was on fire and you imagined yourself looking like a tomato, which didn't make the situation any better.
„I'm so sorry, zoro."
you voiced quietly, your hands slowly leaving your face to grasp the fabric of the blanket in front of you, before covering your face with it.
„oi, why are you hiding from me now?"
zoro inquired with a small chuckle.
you could hear his footsteps slowly approach the bed, before coming to a halt. then you felt the blanket gently being tugged at as he lifted it up from over your head.
you wanted to look at him -to see his expression and maybe get an idea of what he was thinking of this situation, but you couldn't; so instead you adverted your eyes, while slowly tugging your legs up to your chest.
what if he was mad at you now? more so than the crew? what if he wouldn't want to talk to you for a while now? even worse, what if he didn't like you as much as you hoped anymore?
another chuckle from him finally made your head snap up at him and out of your thoughts.
he was smiling. simply smiling at you.
wver so softly smiling at you, in a way you would've never expected roronoa zoro to smile at anyone. not even at luffy.
Your heart felt like it stopped beating in that moment, and you could feel the heat slowly creeping back up on your cheeks. you swallowed audibly before opening your mouth slightly to say something, but nothing was coming out. your lips and throat felt dry.
„you're really cute when you're all flustered and speechless like this, y/n," zoro chuckled again. „it's quite the opposite to your irritating demeanor to be honest."
you closed your mouth immediately, head dropping slightly, a sudden tightness growing in your jaw. great, he found you irritating.
no, wait. didn't he say you're cute?
the sifting of the mattress under you immediately pulled you out of your thoughts.
when you looked back up, zoro was climbing onto the bed again, seating himself down on his knees in front of you.
your heart started throbbing in your chest when you realized how close he was -even though he had been closer to you just the night before, or many times before- but now something was different.
you adverted your gaze from him, hoping he wouldn't notice how flustered you were again.
but then you felt his fingers tenderly brushing your chin and before you knew it, he gently grabbed it and turned your face towards him.
„why are you so quiet all of a sudden? trying to avoid my eyes on you?"
your eyes shifted to the side slightly for only a moment before they flashed back at him as he continued.
„this all sounded very differently last night. don't you remember your own words?"
his voice sounded lower now.
your breath hitched at his words and your eyes widened slightly. what did you say last night?
trying to think of what had happened, your eyes slowly widened as realization hit you.
„no, don't tell me-" you moved back on the bed, zoro's hand falling from your chin.
„don't tell me I-," you blurted, „don't tell me you heard-"
zoro chuckled once more at your reaction, gingerly moving closer to you again.
you continued to back off slightly, moving on the bed until there was no more space, so you leaned more and more back on your elbows. zoro continually following you, until he was hovering above you.
„ro—zoro... I'm- I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to say that out loud. I- I don't... I don't want things to be weird between us. please... can you just forget about it?"
„say it again."
his eyes were locked to yours and you could catch an all too well known determination in them.
confused, you blinked.
„what?"
„say it again. say what you said last night again. tell me that you actually meant it."
you blinked again. was he serious? no way was he being serious...
„zoro I-" you tried to shift under him, but to no vain.
„say it, y/n"
zoro’s hands moved to grab yours, pinning them onto the bed to both sides of your head.
your lips started to quiver lightly, but you weren't afraid of him. you were afraid of what would happen next, what would happen after that, what he would do if you actually repeated your words and finally told him the truth.
but despite yourself, you swallowed all your doubts, determinedly looking back at the greenette on top of you.
„I love you, zoro. I really do. I have been for a while now, but I was too afraid to tell you. I was scared of how you'd react and what might happen after. I was scared that things would turn out horrible and I would just ruin everything that we have, not only between us but for the crew too. I'm sorry, zoro. I really am."
still looking at his face you caught something changing in his face. his expression softened as he kept looking at you, eyes glistering.
„don't be sorry, y/n," he voiced so tenderly quiet, you could barely hear it.
„don't be sorry," he repeated, moving his head down toward the side of your face.
you flinched for a second, as zoro rested his face in the crook of your neck, his hands leaving the grip on yours.
„I... I love you too," he sighed against your soft skin.
your breath caught in your throat at his words.
„I love you, y/n," he continued, „I can't even tell you for how long, but... I do. I really do. maybe since the beginning. it feels like since the day I first saw you, I wanted to protect you. I needed to protect you. but I know you can do that yourself. still... I want you close to me. I want to hold you, and be held by you. I want to laugh with you, or better, be the reason you laugh. I want to see you happy. I want to make you happy. I want you to trust me whenever I tell you, because I trust you. y/n, I love you."
your hand slowly moved to the back of his head, tenderly stroking trough his hair a few times before moving down to rest on his neck.
„zoro I... I don't know what to say... I-" you voiced softly, at a loss for words, barely comprehending what you just heard.
he slowly lifted his head to look at you.
„you don't have to say anything," he softly spoke, leaning down towards your face.
immediately you knew -closing your eyes as he did and leaning forward a bit.
zoro's lips felt a bit rough against your own soft ones at first, but you quickly melted into him. He tasted of sake still, but you didn't mind, you quite liked it. despite it being very clumsy, from both of you, he was so tender, so loving.
you hummed softly, relieved to know he wanted you too, and he let you know by hungrily asking for more. a low growl coming from the back of his throat as he became messier and a little rougher.
you were happy to oblige, wanting more too. You opened your mouth slightly, to grand him permission, and zoro wasted no time slipping his tongue in, still a bit clumsy.
your fingers moved to the back of his neck again, running them through his hair slowly, before resting your arms around his neck.
zoro's hands moved to either of your sides, tenderly holding you, before he broke the kiss after a while longer.
he pulled back a bit, looking at you again, a soft grin gracing his lips.
you smiled softly in return, your hands still around his neck, as you leaned up to give him a quick peck on the cheek.
„should we go get some breakfast now?"
you gently broke the comfortable silence between the two of you.
zoro chuckled lightly, before leaning back down to rest his head in the crook of your neck again, pressing a soft kiss to the side of your face.
„don't you remember? we're sleepyheads, so let’s just stay here for a while longer."
you laugh quietly before nodding softly.
"okay, yes, let's stay here a little longer.”