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“Zoro, if you’re seen with Robin, then the entire plan will fall apart before it even begins!” Usopp cautions, attempting to dissuade the swordsman from ruining Trafalgar Law’s plot to infiltrate the Flower City and its shogun’s inner circle.
“Yeah, bro, consider for a moment what you’re risking here. It’s not just Robin’s life at stake, but all of our lives as well,” Franky agrees, putting the finishing touches on his hair.
“Who will protect Robin once she’s in the Flower City, hmm?” Zoro challenges, his singular brown eye clouding over, daring his crewmates to challenge his authority on this matter. “Luffy’s gone right now to bring that idiot cook back, so that makes me in charge of the four of us. And I say that I’m accompanying Robin to her destination to ensure she’s safely arrived,” the first mate decrees, closing the distance between himself and the resident archaeologist.
“Zoro, surely such a precaution is not needed simply for me,” Robin speaks up for the first time throughout the entire exchange. “After all, I lived twenty years on the run before joining the crew. I’ll be alright on my own,” the woman known as the ‘Demon Child’ reminds, her blue gaze locking on Zoro’s face.
“You’re not still living the life of a loner, Robin,” Zoro drops his voice low, his warm breath tickling the side of Robin’s face as he speaks. “You have me now, and you’re never going back to that type of living,” the green-haired swordsman vows, capturing Robin’s hand in his own while Usopp and Franky are distracted by waving Law and the rest of the Heart Pirates over to their small group.
Usopp and Franky turn around to find Robin’s hand laced in Zoro’s, the archaeologist leading the swordsman by the hand in the opposite direction of the Heart Pirates.
“Zoro, what are you---” Usopp calls after the two retreating members of the Straw Hats, only for Robin to be the one who responds to the sharpshooter.
“Our first mate is going to accompany me to the outskirts of the Flower City. He’s suddenly been struck by a sense of chivalry. Who am I to deny him that?” Robin widely grins, continuing to pull Zoro away from Franky and Usopp where the swordsman cannot devise a retort.
Zoro simply rolls his eye and scoffs at the comment, squeezing Robin’s hand in his own as they get further away from their two remaining crewmates.
The pair stop for dinner at one of the local restaurants on the way to Robin’s assigned location, eager to try the indigenous food of Wano. Zoro orders them a bottle of the finest sake to split, knocking their cups together after he pours them both a glass. Robin gets them enough food to share, the swordsman and the archaeologist grabbing food from one another’s plates and enjoying the time well spent together as they discover the local culture.
“This is nice,” comes Zoro’s voice after he takes a large swig of sake. “Been a while since we’ve been on a real date like this,” he softly smiles, taking Robin’s hand into his own.
“We’re on a date, hmm?” Robin hums in contentment, rubbing her fingertips along the top of Zoro’s knuckles, feeling every callous on his skin he has received from thousands upon thousands of hours of strength training and fighting with his swords. “I knew there was a reason why you were so insistent on walking me to the capital,” she continues, looking her swordsman in the eye.
“I know you’re perfectly capable of handling yourself, Robin, but you know I worry,” Zoro continues to explain, his mind traveling back to their past. “After they took you away in Enies Lobby, I realized I couldn’t live without you, that I was starting to grow to love you,” he explains, his voice practically a ghost of a whisper as he shudders at the memories of one of the lowest points in the Straw Hat crew’s history, when they believed their archaeologist would be lost to them forever.
“I love you,” Robin interrupts, closing the distance between the two of them and capturing Zoro’s lips with her own, pressing a passionate kiss to his mouth, nothing stopping her from letting her passion come to the surface.
They continue to kiss, Zoro letting out an involuntary groan in the process, feeling himself becoming invigorated at the sensation of Robin’s lips against his own and with one of her hands gripping his hair while her other hand rests along his inner thigh. When they finally do break apart for air, Zoro’s brown eye is fixated on the woman in front of him, full of both love and lust for the beautiful Nico Robin.
“I love you so much,” he murmurs, his voice full of adoration and reverence as his hands find the backs of Robin’s thighs, hoisting her upwards into his arms as he stands, carrying the raven-haired woman out of the restaurant. “I don’t want to let you go just yet,” the first mate admits, tightening his hold on the woman he loves more than anyone else alive.
“Join me for an after-dinner bath, then,” Robin suggests, pointing towards a sign that directs them to a bathhouse.
“A bath, huh?”
“That is what I suggested, my swordsman.”
“Sounds nice. Point me in the right direction.”
With Robin giving the directions, they reach the bathhouse in record time, each one excited for the promise of hot water after several days of travelling by foot from the Thousand Sunny to the mainland of Wano.
Once they arrive at the bathhouse, the flirtatious energy only intensifies amongst the pair.
“A communal bath, huh?” Zoro observes, seeing both men and women in the same area of the bathhouse as he emerges from the changing room with a towel loosely tied around his waist.
“Why, yes,” Robin answers back, appearing beside the swordsman with a towel draped across her front, the tops of her breasts peeking out from the top of the towel. “Is that a problem?” she inquires, winding her hands along Zoro’s toned chest and back, feeling the muscles flex underneath her touch in all the most tantalizing ways.
“Provided none of these men stare at what’s not theirs, no,” Zoro reveals, his voice low and dangerous, a hint of possession sneaking into his tone. “You’re mine, and I intend to stake that claim,” the swordsman roughly says, pulling Robin by the hand and towards one of the steaming hot baths, the archaeologist’s heart beating wildly in her chest at the words.
“What are you---?” she sighs out as Zoro sets her into the steaming water before he climbs in after her, discarding his towel at the stairs of the bath.
The green-haired swordsman sits directly in front of Robin, his hips coming to rest over the top of Robin’s pelvis, anchoring her below him as his hands roam under the water, squeezing the tender skin on her upper body, the strength of his fingertips no doubt leaving the imprint of his fingers as he devotes himself to the female archaeologist he has been drawn to ever since their times in Skypiea and Enies Lobby. His mouth soon joins the fray, finding the sensitive spot along the pulse point in Robin’s neck as the swordsman first kisses along her neck and then begins to gently nip along her sensitive neck, relishing in the gasps that escape Robin’s lips as she practically squeals under his devoted touch. Robin grasps the back of Zoro’s head in right hand, her fist closing in his green hair, her left traveling up and down his back, stroking the toned and muscled back of her swordsman.
“Why? This isn’t like you,” Robin inquires, unsure as to why Zoro is making this beyond public display when he usually prefers for their affectionate moments to occur behind the closed doors of the Thousand Sunny, not one for receiving attention in this manner like how Sanji no doubt would love to be seen with Nami.
“When have you ever known me to do something halfway?” Zoro murmurs, pausing in his worship of Robin’s body and skin, his brown eye hungry with lust as he pulls back to gaze into Robin’s sea blue eyes. “I said I needed the world to know you were mine. If anyone so much as touches you without your permission as you are undercover at this brothel, they’ll have me to answer to,” he swears, readjusting his hips so that they are pressed as close into Robin as possible while still in the confines of the bathhouse.
“Zoro…” Robin breathlessly says his name, her lungs and chest on fire at the contact. “Can we---”
“What do you say we take this to bed?” comes his voice, thick with desire against her ear and he nuzzles his head against her chest.
“I thought you’d never ask. Take me to bed, swordsman,” she agrees, hungrily capturing his lips with her own, relishing in the contact as Zoro effortlessly lifts her into his strong arms, cradling her as they make their way upstairs to the room he rented them for the night.