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He considers himself close to Nami. Ridiculously close, in fact, the way he would feel towards an older sister, which is hilarious considering Nami is younger than him.
The truth is, he has never let himself have any girl friend after Kuina. He realises now that it was stupid, not all girls are alike and he has stopped actively mourning Kuina a long time ago—but he can admit with ease he is stupid, and with every girl he would meet his brain would always freeze and provide him with the memory of Kuina’s face, vivid, superimposed on them. He is so thankful Nami had been her own person, strong and bright and fierce enough to make him see her as her , instead of a ghost.
After Nami, it was like a dam had broken. Vivi had been easy. Robin had been—not easy, but it was because of the shady vibe she gave off at first, not because she was a girl. Not because of Kuina anymore.
Honestly? Zoro likes being close to girls, because they‘re cool, perceptive, pleasantly surprised by his lack of interest towards them, and usually ready to go the extra mile to understand him despite his disastrous communication skills. But he has never had before the kind of relationship he has now with Perona.
He’s absolutely certain they’re not friends . Yet he can’t help thinking they are somehow close, in a weird sort of way. He turns the problem over and over in his head, but his brain gives him no explanation whatsoever, just as helpful as always. Zoro is lost, and everyone knows how useless he gets when it happens.
It’s not like he likes her. She’s annoying, she talks too loud, she makes a point to argue with everything he says, she rolls her eyes and says he’s a brute, she has either never heard about the concept of privacy or decided privacy wasn’t something Zoro deserved in the first place. Would he try, he could not find someone more diametrically opposed to him—the cook could be, but at least he and Sanji are good at fighting together.
So really, it’s not like he could like something in Perona.
And yet there he finds her, close to him . Like a—his stream of thought utters the word—like a sister.
(“Let’s stop for today,” Mihawk says, “it’s nearly dinner time and you aren’t focused anyway”, and Zoro, heaving, doesn’t try to argue because he’s right.)
Nami is like a sister to him, and Perona is nothing like Nami, which is why his brain hits a snag when he first thinks of that term. But he can’t deny the more the days pass, the more the word is fitting. Perona is family because he doesn’t get to choose her and is stuck with her until the end of times —really, two years, but who’s counting— and yet finds her just bearable enough to not cut her to pieces.
Most of the time Zoro doesn’t want to see Perona, doesn’t even want her to hang around, but she’s just there; and if she isn’t, he feels her absence. Kuraigana is the whole package: gloomy weather, wolves, the castle, Hawkeye, Hawkeye’s wine collection, Perona. When one is missing, the balance is gone. He doesn’t search for her when she’s not around, and he wouldn’t miss her per se if she chose to sail away, yet he’s weirdly glad when she shows herself. Even if it’s clear that most of the times they just want to hit each other. It’s like that with Nami too, so he supposes that this is just the universal sister experience.
But Perona and Zoro’s relationship isn’t like Nami and Zoro’s relationship.
He walks to his room and finds the door opened, Perona sprawled out on his bed taking a nap, and grits his teeth.
Perona is... of the invasive type.
Sweet, mature, perfect Nami (he really didn’t know his chance back then) would never do that to him. Nami makes him feel like they grew up together and she decided, after many years spent putting up with each other’s bullshit, that giving each other space was the only way she would not murder him. Perona —he looks at her, on his bed, fucking drooling on his pillow, and sighs— makes him feel like she’s a baby, having not yet acquired survival instinct, that wants to drive him up the wall. Perona makes him feel like he has to be the mature one.
Oh god, Perona is a little sister.
He wrinkles his nose in disgust. This is not good . What does it make Mihawk, then? His surrogate dad ? He would rather die than having for a dad the guy that almost cut him in half (even though Zoro had asked for it) and made him lose an eye (Zoro had also asked for this), because this is just not— urgh—his dad — here Zoro’s thoughts wander for a while.
“You stink. Go take a shower.”
Perona’s voice, sleepy and ever charming, snaps him out of his brooding. He has been staring at the wall with his brows furrowed for a good five minutes now. Not thinking about Hawkeye as my—eww—ever again.
“Fuck you”, he says, but still grabs fresh clothes in his closet.
Perona snickers. “If you’re quick enough, I’ll teach you how to braid my hair after!”
“Why would I want to learn that?”
“You’re such a boor for even asking that. It’s always useful!”
“Seems like it’d mostly be useful to you,” Zoro objects.
Perona sits up, yawns, then smiles. It’s a little clever smile. “C’mon. You learn to braid my hair, I’ll do the dishes for a week.”
“Deal.”
⚔
The first thing he does, upon seeing Nami again at the Sabaody, is point at the magnificent mass of red hair cascading down her shoulders and exclaim, “Hah! I am so braiding your hair later!”
Nami splutters on her drink.
“...I’m sorry?”
Usopp is watching from afar, clearly taken aback. Next to him, the cook is close to spontaneous combustion.
Zoro explains: “You have long hair. I have stupid knowledge sitting in my head. I know regular braid, fishtail and French braid and I am not letting it go to waste.”
Nami starts to laugh. It’s small at first, then it evolves into a full belly laugh. Usopp follows. Franky peeks his head through the door, not understanding what the fuss is about, and looking merry nonetheless.
They’re drawing attention to them and couldn’t care less. Two years have passed and they’re stronger. They could bring down the whole archipelago if they wanted to.
“Yeah, alright!” Nami exclaims then. “I ain’t gonna pass that.”
She calms down a bit and lays a hand on his shoulder. Squeezes.
She says: “Missed you too.”
Zoro smiles.