Zoro X Reader: Protection

    It was a winter island you were stopped at for a short break in hopes of some casual adventure relief, which made this that much harder to fight in. You wanted to rest, and the cold was nipping at your fingers, making it difficult to grasp your katana. These guys were beginning to really piss you off, and with a sudden rush, you clashed blades with one man, metal grinding on metal as you fought him back from nearly hitting Chopper, who was already preoccupied with someone else.

    There were no words. Your eyes spoke for you as you gave a deathly stare to the man you were fighting, and shoved forward in an attempt to disarm him. But, the cold had gotten to you and you lost your grip, ending up losing your katana instead of him. Gasping in brief fear, you watched him seize the opportunity with no hesitation to raise his sword up above his head, aimed straight towards you. He began to shoot his strike straight down at you, and you screamed.

    Closing your eyes to brace yourself for the impact, you began to think of all the procedures that Chopper would have to perform to keep you in normal shape, that is, if you made it out alive. With your vision temporarily gone, the feeling of a warm liquid spattering on your skin could be felt, and you winced. Slowly, you opened your yes to see the severity of your wounds, but became quite surprised when you saw not a single scratch on you. Looking forward, the one who was attacking you had fallen to the ground, limbs completely shredded. It wasn’t your blood, and Zoro stood next to the fallen body, looking down at you with red tinted katana.

    “Zoro!” You managed to stammer out.

    “Watch out. We can’t have you dying just yet.” He informed, tossing you your katana.

    “T-thanks.” You replied, getting yourself together and shakily heading back out into battle.

    You were a little messed up from the cold still, and your moves were sloppy once again. Zoro noticed this and decided to stay by your side to help you fend off the group that began to attack you. It was a damn good decision, because you had grown so weary that he had to protect you at this point. You felt guilty, always having to rely on him and take up his time, just because you were incapable of doing something.

    You tried the best you could in this moment so he wouldn’t have to constantly fight while you remained useless. Even so, he easily killed whoever came near before you could get to them, narrowing the numbers down with the others until there were none left, leaving this random battle in victory of the Straw Hats, and you panting harder than you should be.

    “Go inside and warm up. I’m sure Sanji will already have some hot cocoa ready for everyone by now.” Zoro told you, gesturing to the kitchen.

    “But I-…” You stopped yourself and looked down at your fingers, which were now turning blue and jittering, making your handling of your katana unstable. “Alright… But you come too, since you exhausted yourself so much.” You argued.

    “Later. I’ve gotta clean up this mess of idiots that tried to attack us.” Zoro said, looking at the strewn out bodies.

    “Alright.” You nodded, still feeling slightly guilty for his constant assistance as you turned and headed into the kitchen, still shivering slightly from the cold wind that still blew.

    Upon shuffling inside, most of the crew was seen already inside, snacking on warm cookies and steaming hot mugs of hot cocoa. Sanji had rapidly spun over to you upon your entrance with a tray of the hot mugs, offering one to you with hearts in his eyes.

    “_______-chwaaaaaaan~!” Have some delightful hot cocoa tow arm your tired body~!” Sanji cooed, circling you like a hawk.

    “Thank you Sanji.” You nodded with a small smile of appreciation, sitting down before you grasped one of the mugs in your hands.

    He spun off to attend to Nami and Robin with his endless amount of power to be a suck up when you dismissed him. Sighing at the man, you focused on taking a sip of your drink before you that offered its warmth to you. Taking a swig, rich warmth ran down your throat and spread throughout your body, making you smile with satisfaction as you set the mug back down.

    Sitting in your won silence while the others ran about like morons, the hot mug burned your fingers with a pleasuring warmth compared to the cold outside. As you stared down at the chocolaty liquid, the door opened and Zoro walked in, a fast chilling breeze following behind him before he shut the door.

    “About time you came inside shit head!” Sanji remarked rudely. “Bring in the entire snow pile why not?!”

    “You go dispose of dead bodies on our ship then smartass! Now shut up and get me some fucking cocoa. It’s cold as shit out there.” Zoro responded with a scowl.

    Sanji mocked Zoro with rude faces, but still gave him a mug of cocoa regardless of his sass. With an exchange of nasty glances, Sanji stalked off and Zoro sat down at the table beside you.

    “So, uh, how’d the clean-up job go?” You asked casually upon his presence, trying to start a conversation,

    He snorted. “Shitty. Those guys were heavy as hell.” He said, trying to joke around. “But there was a lot of em piled around the area you and I fought at. Probably because I cut em down in the same way. Oops.”

    “Yeah, that…” you mumbled. “I’m still sorry about the situation. I couldn’t get my shit together and fight for myself…”

    “_______, it’s fine. Trust me, I’d rather hassle than have you dead.” Zoro insisted, watching you intently.

    “I guess… But still, I don’t want you to work yourself too hard just because of me.” You added.

    Zoro began to chuckle at this point. “I’ll be fine I said. You worry too much.” He said, finishing his drink and standing up.

    “Where are you going?” You asked curiously, following him with your eyes.

    “Training. I need to make sure I stay strong and get stronger. I am going to be the greatest swordsman after all.” He smirked. See ya around.” He added, pushing open the kitchen door and waking back out on deck.

    Slowly getting up, you left your nearly finished cup cocoa on the table and stood at the window to watch outside. The wind had died down, and the atmosphere was calmer. Looking further, you watched Zoro climb his way up to the crow’s nest where he always did his training. As he disappeared inside, you began to think out loud a bit.

    “Training…” You murmured, casting your gaze across the span of the deck. “Maybe if I trained, I could finally be stronger, and support myself so others wouldn’t have to constantly waste their time on me.”

    Feeling the sudden urge to make yourself useful, you pushed the door open and walked across the deck, jumping over the side and onto the pillowy soft snow below. A memory of Zoro’s training from Drum Island flashed through your mind, and you curiously stood at the edge of the water, wondering if you could do the same swimming to strengthen yourself and make it so you weren’t so useless and in need of protection.

    “Maybe the cold will stimulate me and increase the pace of my muscle growth with an adrenaline rush…” You mumbled.

    Dipping your fingers in the water, you quickly retracted them and cursed at the bitter cold. It was far colder than you had expected. You began to second guess this plan and back up from the edge, reconsidering this frozen hell hole. Upon standing back up though, the edge you were standing on suddenly lurched without explanation.

    “What the-?!”

    Realizing what was going on, you tried to run back, but the sudden movement worsened it. The edge you were on was ice, and it cracked, sending you plummeting into the freezing waters in front of you. Screaming out in fear, the sharp edges of the broken off ice began to surround you, poking and scratching cold cuts into your skin as the freezing water paralyzed your limbs at a rapid rate. You couldn’t even scream for help anymore at the rapid rate you were sinking, slowly going under the surface as you began to slip into hypothermic shock. Constant thoughts of death ran thoughts your mind as your vision began to fade, the seconds ticking by as you sunk down deeper. Death was approaching, and you lost your life and crew to the stupidest thing possible…

    A splash, followed by a stream of bubbles could be heard and barely seen above you. Someone broke though the water and swam down for you, pushing the water aside frantically. You caught a glimpse of green hair as you felt a numb pressure on your right wrist, followed by an upward motion as you were pulled out of the depths of the fairly deep sea side.

    Breaking the surface of the water, you weakly gasped in the frozen air and coughed violently, spitting up water that tore up your throat as if it were turning to ice shards as it left your body. The cold water swept by your body as you were pulled to the shore and up on to packed snow where you resumed coughing and shaking violently.

    “What the hell happened?!” Zoro’s panicked voice rang out and into your water filled ears.

    “I-I didn’t, think, straight!” You stammered slowly, coughing between each word and cutting yourself off to cough more.

    “Jesus Christ you’re going to go into hypothermic shock.” He cursed, picking you up bridal style and running you back to the ship, leaping up its side and screaming Nami’s name as loud as his lungs would let him.

    Nami burst out of the kitchen with a confused look on her face, glancing around rapidly.

    “Into the infirmary, NOW!” He ordered, kicking the infirmary door in and running inside.

    Nami seen you in his arms and took immediate action, following inside quickly behind him and closing the door. “What the hell happened?!” She asked with extreme concern.

    “I don’t know the exact situation. All I know is she was sinking in freezing cold water. Get her out of those soaked clothes please before she falls too deep into hypothermic shock!” Zoro said, placing you on the bed and backing up to give Nami space for a job he wasn’t suited to do.

    She nodded without question and opened a drawer in the room, pulling out a set of spare clothes and quickly taking off your frozen clothes and replacing them with the dry ones while Zoro looked the other way. In a minute or so she was done and had you wrapped up in a warm blanket on the infirmary bed to try and give you more warmth to calm your still shivering form. With a call, Nami motioned to Zoro to let him know she was done.

    “Jesus, _______, are you alright?” Zoro asked, running to the bedside and leaning on it with worry.

    Through insane teeth chattering, you thought of something to say, and tried your best to get it out of your mouth without seizing up. “P-please Nami, can you g-go? I just want t-to talk to Zoro. I-It’s too stupid for me to t-tell to more than one p-person at a time.” You said quietly.

    Nami immediately understood and nodded, turning around and leaving the room with only you and Zoro.

    “_______?”

    “I just want you to hear for now o-okay?” You responded.

    “Then, what happened? How did you fall in the water?” He asked once more in a calm voice.

    “I… I was trying to get s-stronger…” You mumbled out, shrinking back into the blanket around you shamefully.

    Zoro blinked. “Stronger? How on earth?” He said slowly with clear confusion.

    “I-it was an accident okay!” You piped up defensively, finding your speech pattern returning to normal. “I remembered that one time on Drum Island when you swam around in cold water as a way of training. I decided to try it, but after touching the water I changed my mind. But by the time I had stood up to leave, the edge gave way and I was dunked in. Just because I want get stronger. Like you…”

    “_______, I’m so sorry that happened. I’m lucky I caught you when I did. But honestly, you don’t need to get stronger.” Zoro said.

    “Yes I DO!” You objected. “I’m always in everyone’s way! I can’t fight for myself! I always need protecting! I’m PATHETIC! I just want to be stronger so I don’t waste everyone’s time…”

    “_______ no you DON’T! For the extreme level of so called strength you want could get you KILLED TRYING! You know how horrifying that is? To hear you want to get stronger, and then all the methods you think of are far too dangerous to be considered normal training for you?! I don’t CARE if you always need protecting. You can have that protection! Do you know why? Because I’ll always be there to provide it! I practically live to protect the things I love, and that main thing is you! I’d rather protect you my whole life then see you die trying to impress everyone before we even find the One Piece!” Zoro busted, slightly angry with a hint of sadness as he leaned in further on the bed, gripping the sheets roughly.

    “Z-zoro…” you paused, staring with wide eyes at him.

    “You’re not in my way… You’re not pathetic to me… I want to protect you… Because I love you…” Zoro began to say at a quieter level tearing up slightly as he remembered your form sinking into the inky blackness of the freezing waters.

    “Zoro I- you…” You paused, unable to think of anything to say. Words just wouldn’t come. You drew a complete blank, so you did the only thing you felt right. Crawling forward, you lifted your blanket up and open, wrapping it around him as you hugged him tightly. “I’m sorry for being so… rash with my decisions…”

    Zoro slowly wrapped his arms around you under the blanket and returned your hug with a gentle yet tight squeeze. “I love you _______. Let me protect you. “

    “Okay. I’ll stop trying to go crazy. I’ll grow on my own. You can protect me, because I love you too, and I don’t want to worry you anymore.” You responded.

    On impulse, you pried yourself from his grip and backed up, looking at his damn near torn apart expression. He really did care about you, and not what strength you were. Following your instinct, you leaned down and gently pressed your lips against his as a way of saying thanks; for saving your ass, and for loving you. Warmth flooded over you when you did so, and that was when you knew you had done the right thing. It felt right. It was right. And only because it was with your protector.

    *