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When they finally stop all the incessant laughing, Roronoa Zoro finds himself finally able to fall asleep, the hardness of the floor making it increasingly difficult to find a comfortable position due to the wounds on his right shoulder and pectoral. If Robin had seen him after this injury, she would have…. That had been the problem, hadn’t it? Once he realized that the girl was from the same brothel in which Robin had been stationed during their infiltration of the Flower Capital, all of the green-haired swordsman’s thoughts had gone to his raven-haired archaeologist, the woman whom he had just given a ring to not long ago to promise his undying loyalty to her. Where was she? Was she safe? Had she managed to find the others? The distraction of thinking of Nico Robin led to him dropping his guard momentarily, the very second that the weapon pierced through his shoulder. If Robin were here, she’d be fussing over his injury, tending to him with Chopper, of that Zoro is certain. He flips onto his left side, feeling the small form of O-Toko pressing up behind him as the little girl snuggles closer to share his body heat. In the most primal section of his brain, Zoro can feel the presence of Momonosuke’s sister across the room, but he could never be tempted to stray from his gorgeous Devil Fruit user and the Sunny's resident archaeologist.
He awakes with a start, suddenly feeling a weight settling on his right side, a head resting directly on the center of his chest. Zoro’s chocolate-colored eye takes a second to adjust in the dim light, the fire having gone out sometime during the night with no one left awake to feed it.
“Robin?” Zoro mumbles, used to his lover settling herself down on top of his chest when they share a bed together.
Turning his head slightly, Roronoa Zoro is not met with the sight of his loving partner, but instead with the younger (now older?) sister of Kozuki Momonosuke, Hiyori’s hands wrapped tightly around his shoulder as she traces lines down his chest. Yeah, that would have to stop immediately.
“Hiyori, wake up,” Zoro says, not even bothering to whisper as the woman continues to lay on top of his injured arm.
Why did she even think that was a good idea? Now that he’s fully awake, the pain receptors in his brain fire on all cylinders, begging for the extra pressure to be removed from his injuries.
“Wake up,” Zoro tries again, sitting himself up fully, startling Hiyori awake in the process.
“Is something the matter, Zoro-juuro?” she practically whispers, still clutching his shoulder between her extremely small and delicate hands.
“You’re laying on top of me. I have a partner and this is disrespectful to her,” he gruffly remarks, hoping for all the world that this is not disloyalty towards the woman he loves more than anyone in the world.
“I just assumed you were okay with sharing body heat during this freezing night since O-Toko…” Hiyori trails off, casting her azure gaze down at the child who had been resting her head against Zoro’s stomach.
“She’s just a kid,” Zoro reminds, not willing to play this game with the former courtesan. “And as I told you, I have a partner,” the swordsman continues, settling back down underneath the meager blankets they were able to find, shivering due to both the temperature and the circumstances he has found himself in. “Please refrain from laying on top of me again.”
Dense as he may be regarding love and the concept of the rules surrounding it, Roronoa Zoro at least knows the difference between “Sorry, I have a partner” and “No, I have a partner”, even before Nami taught it to him.
Even in the absence of Nico Robin, Roronoa Zoro would still be a loyal, dedicated partner to her, not allowing anyone to come in between them. Just because the archaeologist is not there herself to see his actions, Zoro knows that it is absolutely what is expected of him as the man who takes up so much of Robin’s heart. She is no doubt doing the same for him with the vast number of potential suitors (sleazebags) that have absolutely been trying to win Robin’s hand during her undercover mission at the brothel. His unwavering sense of duty, honor, and loyalty is one of the main reasons why Brook entering the small house to find Hiyori once again on top of him throws Zoro into a nervous spiral. He can only hope the Straw Hat crew’s resident skeleton doesn’t say anything about this instance to Robin since he had done everything in his power to relay that he is off-limits to Kozuki Hiyori. Nico Robin will forever be the only woman who can ever tempt him and tame his truly wild heart.