Three Equally Strangely Titled Birthday Ficlets for Zoro [One Piece, Zoro + Perona] Pt. 1
Title: In Which Zoro Misses the Smell of the Galley and Perona Sets Stuff on Fire
Fandom: One Piece
Pairing/Characters: Zoro, Perona, implied Zoro~>Sanji
Rating: PG, just for some swearing
Disclaimer: One Piece and its characters do not belong to me.
A/N: Takes place in current arc
The gloomy morning silence of Kuraigana Island was broken by a shrill, ear-piercing, blood-curdling scream that sounded from the depths of the dark castle. It was a loud, long scream of pure terror, and it didn’t stop until-
Squish. The offending cockroach died instantly underneath Zoro’s boot. Perona watched him with an expression of immense gratitude that quickly vanished the moment the swordsman looked her way. Instead of thanking him, she huffed, “That wasn’t very cute.”
“Neither was that sound you were making,” he said, frowning back at her. “Geez. You get more and more annoying every day.” Not that he knew how many days had passed. Especially considering how his wounds had left him pretty much unconscious for awhile. “You wouldn’t happen to know how long it’s been, huh?”
“Not really,” she sniffed, a little indignantly. “But it’s November 11, if that counts for anything.”
November 11?
“Ah,” he said simply, crossing his arms over his chest. “So it’s my birthday.”
“H-How can you just say it like that?!” She asked, balking. This guy… “Don’t you wish you could celebrate with your nakama?”
“Sure I do.” He shrugged. “But it’s not like I can do anything about that right now. It’s not a big deal.”
That said, he returned to a game Perona liked to call A Fruitless Search for the Precious White Sword. Usually, when he started this, she would laugh at him with a cruelly pleased horo-horo-horo, but this time she just stood and stared at him, keeping her face blank and unreadable. She desperately wanted to say she didn’t care that it was his birthday, or that he was separated from his friends on said birthday, but she couldn’t. Pursing her painted lips for a moment, she nodded decidedly and went in search of some candles.
“Damn,” Zoro swore, finding no sword hidden underneath Perona’s pillows. “Where the hell did you-oi, where’d she go?” He checked under the pillows one more time, in case she was hiding there now, before sighing and sitting down on the bed. “Damn.” He really did wish he was back on the Sunny right now. It would’ve been his first birthday with them. Birthdays on the ship were real parties. Laughing, singing, boozing…just a bunch of good fun and camaraderie that lasted until everyone was passed out.
That, and there was cake.
Zoro wasn’t always a big fan of cakes, really. But he liked being in the galley when Sanji was baking them. The cook was in too good a mood on birthdays to kick him out, so he could sit at the table and pretend to nap. He could close his eyes and inhale deeply, savor the scents of chocolate, vanilla, strawberries, cinnamon and other spices, anything and everything else. It was nice. It smelled nice, and the cakes always looked nice, and of course they tasted nice, and it all just felt…nice. And he and Sanji didn’t always have a lot of nice moments.
“AAAAHH!!! No, no, no, this isn’t right!!”
Shaking his head to snap out of his reverie, Zoro stood and followed the trail of smoke (when did that get there?) into the next room, where Perona was desperately patting at the hem of her skirt, which was a little bit on fire. She was standing in front of a table, which was a lot on fire. What the hell?
He hastily tugged a curtain down from the window to smother the big fire, before somewhat grudgingly assisting Perona with her skirt. “What did you do?”
“I was trying,” she sniffled a little, sounding frustrated, “to make a cute little cake out of bandages, and I was adding the candles to it-”
“Why were you making a ca-” He stopped, suddenly, as he realized. “For me?”
“No!” She snapped far too quickly, averting her eyes, so Zoro knew it had to be true.
He turned around to look at the charred table, saw that a piece of the curtain was still faintly burning. “Guess I should blow it out then.”
He glanced back at Perona, who nodded and took a step closer to watch as he bent down and-
“No wishing for getting out of here, unless you’re taking me with you!”
“Don’t tell me what I can’t wish for!”
Rolling his eyes, he bent down again and waited, hovering, wishing for the smell of the galley, and then he blew out the flame.
“Happy birthday,” she said, smiling.
He almost smiled back at her as he said, “For a present, you could give back my sword.”
“Horo-horo-horo! Nice try.”
Fandom: One Piece
Pairing/Characters: Zoro, Perona, implied Zoro~>Sanji
Rating: PG, just for some swearing
Disclaimer: One Piece and its characters do not belong to me.
A/N: Takes place in current arc
The gloomy morning silence of Kuraigana Island was broken by a shrill, ear-piercing, blood-curdling scream that sounded from the depths of the dark castle. It was a loud, long scream of pure terror, and it didn’t stop until-
Squish. The offending cockroach died instantly underneath Zoro’s boot. Perona watched him with an expression of immense gratitude that quickly vanished the moment the swordsman looked her way. Instead of thanking him, she huffed, “That wasn’t very cute.”
“Neither was that sound you were making,” he said, frowning back at her. “Geez. You get more and more annoying every day.” Not that he knew how many days had passed. Especially considering how his wounds had left him pretty much unconscious for awhile. “You wouldn’t happen to know how long it’s been, huh?”
“Not really,” she sniffed, a little indignantly. “But it’s November 11, if that counts for anything.”
November 11?
“Ah,” he said simply, crossing his arms over his chest. “So it’s my birthday.”
“H-How can you just say it like that?!” She asked, balking. This guy… “Don’t you wish you could celebrate with your nakama?”
“Sure I do.” He shrugged. “But it’s not like I can do anything about that right now. It’s not a big deal.”
That said, he returned to a game Perona liked to call A Fruitless Search for the Precious White Sword. Usually, when he started this, she would laugh at him with a cruelly pleased horo-horo-horo, but this time she just stood and stared at him, keeping her face blank and unreadable. She desperately wanted to say she didn’t care that it was his birthday, or that he was separated from his friends on said birthday, but she couldn’t. Pursing her painted lips for a moment, she nodded decidedly and went in search of some candles.
“Damn,” Zoro swore, finding no sword hidden underneath Perona’s pillows. “Where the hell did you-oi, where’d she go?” He checked under the pillows one more time, in case she was hiding there now, before sighing and sitting down on the bed. “Damn.” He really did wish he was back on the Sunny right now. It would’ve been his first birthday with them. Birthdays on the ship were real parties. Laughing, singing, boozing…just a bunch of good fun and camaraderie that lasted until everyone was passed out.
That, and there was cake.
Zoro wasn’t always a big fan of cakes, really. But he liked being in the galley when Sanji was baking them. The cook was in too good a mood on birthdays to kick him out, so he could sit at the table and pretend to nap. He could close his eyes and inhale deeply, savor the scents of chocolate, vanilla, strawberries, cinnamon and other spices, anything and everything else. It was nice. It smelled nice, and the cakes always looked nice, and of course they tasted nice, and it all just felt…nice. And he and Sanji didn’t always have a lot of nice moments.
“AAAAHH!!! No, no, no, this isn’t right!!”
Shaking his head to snap out of his reverie, Zoro stood and followed the trail of smoke (when did that get there?) into the next room, where Perona was desperately patting at the hem of her skirt, which was a little bit on fire. She was standing in front of a table, which was a lot on fire. What the hell?
He hastily tugged a curtain down from the window to smother the big fire, before somewhat grudgingly assisting Perona with her skirt. “What did you do?”
“I was trying,” she sniffled a little, sounding frustrated, “to make a cute little cake out of bandages, and I was adding the candles to it-”
“Why were you making a ca-” He stopped, suddenly, as he realized. “For me?”
“No!” She snapped far too quickly, averting her eyes, so Zoro knew it had to be true.
He turned around to look at the charred table, saw that a piece of the curtain was still faintly burning. “Guess I should blow it out then.”
He glanced back at Perona, who nodded and took a step closer to watch as he bent down and-
“No wishing for getting out of here, unless you’re taking me with you!”
“Don’t tell me what I can’t wish for!”
Rolling his eyes, he bent down again and waited, hovering, wishing for the smell of the galley, and then he blew out the flame.
“Happy birthday,” she said, smiling.
He almost smiled back at her as he said, “For a present, you could give back my sword.”
“Horo-horo-horo! Nice try.”