"Care to explain how you ended up on my roof?" You asked as you dabbed the small cuts with disinfectant.

"I told you already lady that I- OW! EASY THERE! What the hell was that for!" He growled.

"I'm not trying to hurt you on purpose. Please stop moving around so much" you sighed as you washed our the blood stains.

"Crazy woman... Who the hell treats strangers who fall off their roof and give them alcohol?" He grumbled.

"WHO THE HELL FALLS ASLEEP ON A STRANGERS ROOF?!" You retorted, causing him to blush and mutter under his breath. "And I told you that my name is (y/n)!"

'Seriously.... how did this happen?...'

--------------------------------------------------------------

[A little bit earlier]

Raining season is finally over and recently you'd made it your mission to create a clear way to navigate the woods behind your house. Obviously you were able to navigate to the secret beach just fine, but with people such as Whitebeard, it would be difficult for them to come to the island unnoticed to anchor. Doflamingo managed to do it by finding a cove on the west side of the forest. Thanks to Monet flying over you were able to make a mental note of where it was, but now you needed a way to get there by foot.

"Maybe I should plant some flowers along the way to help me navigate" you muttered to yourself as you hiked through the greenery. "Forget-me-nots, bluebells, lavender, poppies... so many options"

You pushed through the forest until you were at the stream where Kid took you. It acted as a waypoint so you could easily navigate your way back to the house. Water gurgled as it washed over smoothed rock whilst a few birds chirped.

'This place never gets old' you took a deep breath, allowing yourself to appreciate the crispness of the air. 'Come on (Y/n) even though it's the weekend, you still have things to do'

You pressed on, towards your house as the sun slipped past scattered leaves onto your (s/c) skin. It has been fairly peaceful since Hawkins came. After some investigation, you found that the sneaky little devil sent one of his men to make the doll charm while you were still shopping. It had a small latch so that you could open it and place plants inside, that way the smell would put you at ease. It was very thoughtful, but the fact that he didn't let you say goodbye properly still made you mad.

'Oh well, nothing I can do about it now' you smiled to yourself as you relaxed your clenched fist.

Finally you could see your home in the distance causing you to pick up the pace. You could totally do with a nice cold glass of (f/d). As you approached your house a sudden flash of green caught the corner of your eye. Your body went into high alert as you backed away from the building to get a better view, though you couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, now that you were focusing on it, you could hear some snoring?

'Is someone seriously sleeping on my roof right now?'

"Uhm... Hello?" You curiously called up. "Is someone up there?"

'This is stupid! Who in their right mind would respond to that?' you thought as you used your hand to shield your eyes from the sun's rays.

"Oh? Someone's finally here?" A mysterious shrub popped out from your on top of your house, partly obscured by your roof. "Oi! Lady! My friends seem to have gotten lost again, would you mind telling me where the nearest town is and I'll be on my way."

'...The shrub is talking to me... And I seriously doubt that his friends are the ones that are lost!' you sweat-dropped.

"I... well there's only one town here and it's a little ways from here... May I ask what you're doing on my roof?"

"Well you see I was looking for a good ba-Agh!" The shrub cried as it disappeared behind your house.

"Oh my goodness!" You screamed as you ran round to the back of your house. "Are you ok?!" You panicked as the dust settled.

"Ugh... Damn" a deep voice groaned in annoyance.

Your eyes landed on the shrub, except it wasn't a shrub it seemed mossier to you now. It was mossy green hair. Hair that's attached to a head. A head that's attached to a body. A body now covered in small cuts and bruises. Strapped to him were three uniquely designed swords on his hip. You could see that he was actually quite muscular though it didn't distract you from the large scar across his chest. He raised a tanned hand to his head shuffling his green locks around in slight irritation. It was at this point his sharp brown eyes landed on you, creating the evil thing known as eye-contact.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The rest was very simple. You dragged him into your home on instinct and bandaged him up. He didn't comply at first but when you bribed him with alcohol as a 'reward' if he obeyed, you know like a child, he begrudgingly agreed, you know like a child.

"So you're here with your crew?" You asked, whilst washing out a damp rag.

"Yup! I going to head into town to see if they're there" He smirked in satisfaction at the bottle of sake he was holding. "This is some good stuff"

"Briggs is the best when it comes to alcohol, so when we go to town I'll take you to him so you can tell him. He always likes to be praised on his work" you giggled as you placed the cold water basin back in the cupboard.

"We?" he raised a brow.

"Yes, we!" you nodded. "I need to stock up on some alcohol so we're both going to town. Doesn't it make more sense to go together? I could even help you find your crew seen as how I know a lot of people" you pointed out.

'That and I don't exactly trust you to find the town by yourself' you smiled as he finished the bottle.

"Well? what do you think Mr... Uhm..." you sweatdropped.

'Damn it (Y/n)! You've gone and done it again' you lectured yourself. 'When will you learn to ask people who they are before treating them. Law, Kid, Killer, and now this guy. This is getting ridiculous'

"It's Zoro, just Zoro," he said now eyeing your home.

That snapped you out of your self-torture.

"Zoro..." you whispered, almost as if you were testing it on your tongue. "It suits you" you laughed.

Zoro couldn't help but blush and look away. He was expecting you to realize who he was, not compliment him.

"Look, lady! Are you ready to go or not?" He huffed.

'Oh... He's like Ace as a kid...' you smiled.

"Let's go!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

You knew that the world was cruel, but it still seemed wrong that Zoro was being punished in the way he was. You couldn't even get him to follow the path in the woods. And it didn't help that you were surrounded by everything green. In the end, you'd decided enough was enough.

"This is stupid and It feels weird!" Zoro whined as he wriggled his hand a little.

"Yeah well, until we find your friends, I'm not letting go of you anytime soon. Who knows where you'd wander off to?" you replied, squeezing his hand in an assuring manner. "I know it's weird but bear with it for just a little longer. We'll be there soon" you smiled.

Zoro grumbled and turned to face the other way, but he did stop resisting your hold. A pink hue managed to creep to the surface of his face. He spared a few glances down at your intertwined hands, only to get embarrassed and look away again. Thinking about it now though, he found that it wasn't a bad feeling. Your hands were soft and small, compared to his large calloused ones. It was like holding something as fragile as a flower. Something he wouldn't mind protecting.

"Look Zoro we made it to the town!" You beamed at him, effectively snapping him back to reality.

—————————————————————————————

Because it was the weekend the market place was a lot livelier than normal. Nevertheless, the market place never really changed for you. You were no longer dragging Zoro along, instead, he made an effort to match your pace. Of course, he'd try to go in another direction, but a gentle squeeze reminded him to stick with you.

Both you and Zoro got your fair share of glares. Zoro got his from all the single men in town, whilst you got glares from all the single men and women in town. It's not like either of you noticed though. You made it to Briggs' place and he and Zoro hit it off like they'd known each other for years. You released his hand so Zoro could talk freely and sample the different sake that Briggs was bragging about. Briggs seemed to like Zoro so much he told him to come back later so they can drink together, on the house.

'I doubt he'd be able to find his way here on his own' You giggled to yourself

"I hate to break this blossoming friendship that you've got going on here but do you have my order, Briggs?" You cut in.

"Hahaha, I got it right here darlin'! Just one barrel this time right?" He chuckled as he walked around the back.

"Yep!" You chimed as you started pulling out some belli.

"No need for that (Y/n)!" He smirked "The blondie you brought here last time paid for your share of alcohol while you weren't looking. Looks like he's trying to make a worthy investment" he wiggled his eyebrows while you flushed.

"Of course Hawkins would pull something like that" you laughed. "Guess I better add it to the list of things to thank him for"

Zoro seemed to have lost his smile during your brief exchanging of words. He didn't seem mad, just quiet. Briggs brought out the huge barrel and placed it on the floor.

"You gonna borrow a cart today (y/n)?" Briggs Asked.

"Ye-" You started.

"No" Zoro corrected.

'Pardon?' You gave him a baffled look.

Zoro stepped over to the barrel and easily heaved it onto his shoulder without breaking a sweat.

"Thanks for the invite old man. We'll be off now" Zoro nodded to Briggs, right before turning to you.

Carefully, he took your hand in his and led you out of the store. Briggs let out an impressed whistle while you gave Zoro a questionable look.

"Are you sure you wanna carry that around?" You eyed him.

"It's not that heavy" Zoro stated still walking with you trailing behind.

'Why are all the men I meet just freakishly strong?' You sweatdropped.

"You seemed very eager to leave the store all of a sudden" you pointed out.

Zoro visibly flinched.

"You're imagining things" He argued

"Am I? I mean you're still holding my hand and you haven't complained once... have you finally gotten used to it" you giggled.

At that, Zoro almost jumped out of his skin, now fully aware that he'd quite comfortably taken your hand in his without thinking about it. He released your hand effective immediately, face all pink as he sputtered nonsense.

"I didn't-! It's not like-! I just-!"

'Forget finding your way around, poor thing can't even find a way to start a sentence' you laughed. 'How cute'

Zoro paused and watched you laugh at his behavior. Even though he wanted to get mad at you, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He let out an airy sigh as he placed the barrel down next to him, while he patiently waited for you to finish.

"Yeah yeah laugh it up" he groaned as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. You were just really cute" you smiled at him.

Zoro flushed, small protests firing off from him, saying he was far from it. But you didn't let that fool you. Zoro was soon cut short when you stretched over and happily took his hand in yours. He looked at you in surprise.

"Shall we go and look for your crew then?" You were radiating excitement.

He smirked and gave you a curt nod, signaling the beginning of your small, harmless adventure. What could go wrong?

"DAMN YOU! YOU SHITTY LOST BASTARD!!!" Someone roared.

In that exact moment, Zoro was sent flying down the cobbled street, dust now swirling in the air concealing his whereabouts. Where Zoro originally stood, there was a now a slim, yet muscular, long-legged man with blonde hair brushed to the side. He wore professional black pants and a buttoned up shirt.

'About time!'

He had spiral eyebrows, and like Zoro he had deep brown eyes, However, they seemed a lot softer than Zoro's. He stood charmingly in front of you and took a quick drag from the cigarette he was holding. He exhaled slowly.

"Zoro!" You cried.

'What just happened? Zoro was just here... how did he?...' Your mind slowly processed the information that was being sent to it at record speed.

"Mademoiselle..." He whispered in a smooth rich voice, which caused you to jump slightly.

He knelt on one knee and took your hand with his right, whilst his left hand covered his chest.

"... I never thought that this day would be so wonderful, seeing your face that's absolutely breath-taking. Your smile gives my life reason to go on through hardships. The beauty that you possess turns me into a fool. If I was ever blessed to hear the echoes of your angelic voice, I know that I would be able to die happy!" He professed.

'And I thought Killer was a lady charmer' you sweatdropped.

"Uh... Thank you-!" You were swiftly interrupted when shot up to do a strange noodle dance in front of you, hearts forming in his eyes.

"I can't believe I was blessed with the opportunity to hear the voice of an angel. I must be the luckiest man in the world right now, no, the universe!" He hollered only to come to a halt. "And to think, your angelic presence was wasted on that idiot marimo" he growled, a fire now lit in his eyes. "I need to teach that marimo swordsman a lesson"

"I don't really think that that's necessary-!" Once again you were cut off, but this time it wasn't from the mysterious blonde.

Something had coiled around your waist with a horrifying sense of familiarity. So much so, you paled drastically, feeling your heart drop to the sole of your left foot, in an attempt to escape your own body. Your arms gripped the rubbery substance that was entangled around your body in an attempt to try and pry it off. But your efforts were futile.

"N-no... Please..." was all you could manage before you were snatched away at the speed of... death.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Your body slammed into, what felt like a brick wall, with such force that you, and said brick wall, were both taken off of your feet and sent tumbling down a small grassy hill to the left of the stone path. Somehow you'd ended up lying on your back with a heavyweight on your chest. Your whole was aching in pain, as you winced from the sunlight in your eyes. You groaned reaching a hand to your head, which felt like it was doing cartwheels and summersaults back to back.

"Hey (Y/n)...I'm home!"

You blinked three times ' What just happened?'

-----------------------------------------------------------------------