Chapter 8 - Competition and a Persuasive Reindeer

Gah!! I'm so sorry! I swear, I really did think I would have this chapter finished so much sooner! I even started writing this chapter right after the last one, but I had to take a break for that sleep thing, and I've been supah busy ever since.



Thanks so much to all of you beautiful people who have reviewed! I probably would have left this chapter unfinished much longer if I wasn't regularly reminded to write in reviews. Actually, I'm writing right now only because I just read a nice review from Digital Dreamer, heh. ^^; Thanks to my lovelies. And the time for reading is now!



I dun be ownin' One Piece.



-o-Chapter Eight-o-



The swordsman stared blankly at Nami. Did she say what I think she said??



Nami didn't say a word. She seemed as though she was waiting for Zoro's reaction to her sudden challenge.



“What do you mean, you wont let me have him?”



“I mean exactly what you think I mean,” Her expression dared him to object. “I'm in love with Luffy as well, and I'm not going to lose to you, Zoro.”



The pair sat in silence. She's... In love with Luffy? Zoro's head felt like it was going to explode. How could she be in love with Luffy? Can she even feel that emotion??



“Wait... What do you mean, `lose'? This isn't some stupid competition,” Zoro stared obstinately at the navigator. “And how I feel about Luffy has nothing to do with you.”



Nami stood up. “Well, I expected you to say something like that, and you're right; this isn't a competition, but in the end at least one of us will lose.”



“Why are you telling me all of this? What makes you think I even want to be with Luffy?”



“Oh, stop your idiotic macho act, Zoro! I can see it in your eyes every time you look at him. You're such a child, I swear.” The navigator shook her head.



“And all this your doing is so adult? You women are such hypocrites.”



“Yeah, you would say that wouldn't you...” Nami narrowed her eyes. “Now that you're gay.”



“Hey!! Since when was I...?” He couldn't even say the word.



Grinning evilly, Nami chanted `okama' a few times before the swordsman held his katana against her throat.



“Well, you'll have to come to terms with that if you're going to love a man,” Nami said eyeing the blade as he sheathed it.



“Watch your mouth, woman,” He warned, making certain the blade caught the light as he put it away.



Nami shrugged her shoulders. “Well, either way...”



“Either way, what?”



“Now that you know how I feel about Luffy, I can't let you leave this room without promising that you wont breath a word of this to anyone. Especially Luffy.”



“Why would I tell anyone? Why did you even tell me?? How does telling me this help you? I know you, Nami. You don't do anything that wont help you in some way...”



Nami narrowed her eyes at the swordsman. “If I told you that, what would be the point?”



Zoro growled and made his way to the door. “Well, if you have nothing left to say, there's no reason for me to hang around.”



“Do what you want,” Nami replied then grinned devilishly. “Just keep in mind that I'm not going to go easy on you just because you're a man...”



Zoro scowled as he left the woman's company. His day had gone from being fairly pleasant to disgustingly bad in only a handful of minutes. Normally, he would have been better prepared. After all, being a pirate, your day tends to go sour fairly often, What bothered him was how his day had been ruined. This whole ordeal was beginning to remind him of a crappy romance comic he had flipped through years ago. He had chucked that comic off a bridge into a river after reading thirteen pages.



“Zoro!” Chopper ran up to greet the swordsman. “I was looking for you.”



“What do you want?” He asked, his tone a little harsher than he had intended.



“Uhh...” Chopper slowed his pace, stopping several feet away from his crew mate. “Am I bothering you?”



“No, what is it?”



“Well...” Chopper shuffled his feet, suddenly not so certain he should disturb Roronoa. “I had an idea, and I thought I would tell you... But I can tell you later.”



Zoro sighed. “No, what is it?”



“Well, I was thinking...” Chopper stood on his tiptoes and whispered. “About you and Luffy... I have an idea.”



“What?” Zoro quickly looked around to make sure no one was around then grabbed Chopper and lifted him under his arm. “Hold on a second... Lets not talk about this here.”



“Eh??”



The swordsman knew if he was going to discuss this with Chopper it would have to be in someplace private. So naturally, he took the tiny reindeer to the only place he knew: The storage room. They sat facing each other on boxes of what seemed to be food.



“Uhh... Zoro?”



“Yeah?”



“Why did we have to come on here? There are other places we could-”



“I always come here to be alone. There's nothing wrong with this room.”



The reindeer examined the cobwebs in the corners of the room warily. He might have been an animal, but he still disliked spiders.



“So, what did you want to tell me?” Zoro asked impatiently.



“Well... This si probably going to sound weird, but...”



“But, what?” The swordsman raised an eyebrow questioningly.



“I thought that maybe you should just tell Luffy how you feel instead of trying to ignore what your heart wants.”



“How could I possibly tell Luffy that?? He'd probably think I was insane. He would get all creeped out, and then we'd never be friends ever again.”



“But-”



“These feelings are just an inconvenience. If I tell Luffy, our friendship would be ruined...” Zoro looked unusually pained. “I'd rather just deal with this silently than ruin what Luffy and I have.”



Choppers eyes were starting to water up. “Zoro...” The reindeer burst into tears. “That's just too horrible!!”



Roronoa panicked. If there was one thing that he didn't know how to deal with, it was tears. “Uhh, stop that! There's nothing horrible about it!”



“Yes, th-sniff-there is! Why should you have to keep it a secret and suffer?” Chopper looked up at Zoro with his big, tear-filled eyes. “Don't you want Luffy to love you too?”



“...” Zoro couldn't answer. The thought of Luffy actually returning his feelings was too much for him to ever hope for. “That wont ever happen...”



“That's not true! You wont ever know if you don't tell him.”



“But, I can't just tell him something like that! He's Luffy. He probably wouldn't even know what I was talking about. You know how he is... I'd have to spell it all out for him before he even understood enough to be disgusted.”



“But, he wouldn't be disgusted. What makes you so sure he'll turn you down?”



“What makes you so sure he wont?”



“Well...” The little doctor thought for a moment. “Even though he doesn't seem like it all the time, Luffy's a very kindhearted person. I don't think Luffy cares about things like whether you're a boy or a girl...”



“...”



“I think if you tell him, he'll understand. Even if he doesn't return your feelings, Luffy would never be disgusted by you, Zoro. I know you two would still be friends.”



Zoro stared at his feet as he listened to his friend. Maybe Chopper was right. He knew for a fact that what the reindeer had said was true. Luffy was too good of a person to make him feel bad about the way he felt. But still... If he told Luffy, there would be a change, whether it was good or bad.



On top of all that, there was now Nami. He knew there was no way he could ever accept her being with Luffy. Not being with Luffy himself was one thing, but seeing him with someone else was not something he could allow.



“...Zoro?”



“Maybe you're right.”



Chopper's eyes lit up. “Does that mean you'll tell him?”



“I don't really have a choice, do I? If I tell him, there's a chance I'll lose my best friend. If I don't tell him, I'll be miserable for the rest of my life, while possibly losing him to someone else. Either way seems like a bad idea, but at least if I tell him I can get all of this over and done with.”



“Why are you making it sound so hopeless? You forgot to mention the possible outcome of you and Luffy living happily ever after.”



“There's no such thing as `happily ever after'.”



Chopper stuck his tongue out. “You're so pessimistic...”



-o-Chapter End-o-



Yeah, it's short, but at least this should feed you guys for a little while. This was just the kind of chapter that isn't very fun to write. It's mostly all that important stuff you need to get through so you can move on to the good stuff. Hopefully the next chapter with be filled with goodness.



Does anyone think I made Chopper too... I don't know, lovey? It just seemed to me like I made him a little too determined to get Zoro and Luffy together... But then again, maybe Chopper's a love-freak deep down. ^^;



Anyway, if I get oodles of reviews, it'll make me feel more guilty about not writing. So guilt trip me with love and you'll get a new chapter sooner. I wuv you all so much, my pretty reviewers!

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