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Across the field, Tashigi was being spun around the firelight, surprisingly graceful for someone so clumsy.
The pirates and marines had teamed up once again, and called a twenty-four hour truce following the engagement to celebrate and rest. And if theres one thing Zoro's crew knows how to do, its throw a party. Not even a hour after the truce was called they'd commandeered a field, rolled out the alcohol, and start reveling.
After the sun went down and dinner had, the dancing began. Nami, Robin, and the very few marine women among them were partners in high demand. Lines had begun forming, each man waiting his turn.
Zoro, not one who cares for dancing, was perfectly fine sitting on his crate, swapping stories and drinking the night away. Frankly, Zoro wouldn't have noticed Tashigi dancing at all if the men in her unit sitting nearby hadn't sprung up from their seats to join her line. Zoro even had a laugh over how desperate they must be to touch a woman to fall over themselves like that. The pervert cook following after them just reinforced that. Zoro only looked over to make sure Tashigi didn't fall into any of the large bonfires. After all, she tripped over her own shoes twice earlier that day. She may be annoying, but Zoro didn't want her to die from her own clumsiness. And there was the surprise. She was a frighteningly good dancer. Her feet as sure as they were when she raised her sword. Zoro watched as partner after partner swept her around the clearing to Brook's music.
Some partners held her close, and some further away. Many gave her a twirl and one attempted to dip her. Hands were all over her waist and hips, though every man had kept them respectable so far. Likely only because she outranked them. Her newest one said something and she laughed, taking her hand off his shoulder to cover her mouth.
"So, you gonna ask her to dance?"
"Huh," Zoro startled and looked over to Usopp, who at some point had joined him on the crate with his own drink.
Usopp bumped him with an elbow, "Ask her dance."
"What makes you think I want to dance?"
"Because," Usopp rolled his eyes, "you've been glaring at her for long time."
Zoro crossed his arms. Maybe he had been. But that didn't mean he wanted to dance with her.
"Ask. Her. To. Dance."
"You know I don't dance."
'Can't' was the better term. Back when Brook first joined, it was discovered only Usopp knew how to dance. He had been Kaya's dance partner when she was learning, and decided that made him qualified to teach the rest of them. It went alright for everyone else. But it was a absolute disaster for Zoro. He didn't like to think about it.
"That's very true, but!" Usopp raised a finger, "if you're dancing with her that means other people can't."
Zoro did like the sound of that. He simply hummed in response.
"Oh, looks like it's Sanji's turn with her next. He'll probably-"
Zoro stopped listening. He could see it now unfolding in his mind. Sanji took the dance lessons seriously, which meant he insisted on perfect posture. Sanji and the sword nerd would be pressed together from shoulder to hip, with Sanji babbling about how nice she smelled or how pretty she is as he dipped her.
Zoro was up and stomping their way before the vision even dissipated.
The song was wrapping up and Sanji didn't even wait for it to finish before walking up to her and booting her current marine partner out. Zoro had to act fast.
"Cook!"
Tashigi had just taken his outstretched hand when Sanji turned to snap at him, "What! Can't you see I'm busy?"
"Really, looks like you're doing nothing?"
Sanji sputtered.
"Robin needs your help with something."
Sanji looked in actual pain to have to pick between two women. Tashigi looked relived, "You should go help her, it might be important."
Sanji placed his free hand on top of their clasped ones, "You're right. Forgive me my dear. Save me a dance?"
Tashigi gave him a hesitant nod and Sanji scampered off.
Tashigi took the opportunity to untangle her glasses from her hair. The nose piece had gotten caught in her bangs while resting on top of her head.
"What did she need help with?"
"Uh," Zoro rushed to come up with an excuse, "nothing really. I just like inconveniencing the shitty cook."
Tashigi gave an amused huff, "That's rude."
"Yeah, well-" Zoro watched as what might've been a light smile vanished as frustration took over. Without thinking Zoro reached out and lightly batted one of her hands away, "Let me. You're just making a bigger mess of it."
There might have been a light flush on her face, but Zoro lost the view when she tipped her head to give him more access.
"It's dark out and my hair is black," she grumbled, "and it's hard to see the top of your own head."
She was right about that. Zoro couldn't see very well and went about it mostly by feel. Her hair was softer and thicker than he expected. Soon enough Tashigi was able to pull her glasses free and her bangs fell back into place along her forehead.
"Thanks," she said softly before she put her glasses on properly.
"No problem," he responded just as quietly and forced himself to step back out of her personal space. She look pretty in the light of the fires, and his chest always squeezed strangely when she looked at him through lenses of her cute nerd glasses.
They stood awkwardly apart for a few moments. Long enough to notice the current song ending and a new one beginning. Tashigi perked up as she recognized the notes.
"Oh, finally, a slow song. I could use the break."
Zoro's eye darted back over to her line, it had thinned out considerably.
"If you need a break that bad, just tell your admirers to get lost."
Tashigi smiled as she repositioned Shigure, "No, I enjoy dancing. And it's good for team building. But the last few songs involved a lot of spinning. I was worried about getting dizzy."
"Hm," Zoro struggled to come up with a conversation. The longer she talked to him, the less time some low-rank pervert spent hanging off of her. "You, ah, like dancing. Why?"
"It's fun, mostly. And good for testing endurance." Tashigi's smile turned wishful, "My father would dance with me while my mother made dinner. When I was little I would be standing on his toes. I only took real lessons when we discovered I was clumsy, to help my balance. It didn't work, unfortunately. We tried martial arts after that, which led to swordplay. I guess in a way, I wouldn't be me without dancing."
Tashigi looked back up at him, "How about you, do you like dancing?"
Zoro hesitated. "Dancing is very complicated."
Tashigi seemed to catch what he wasn't saying. She looked amused. "Really? But it's like a spar."
"It's nothing like a spar," Zoro muttered. He'd made that mistake before. He'd often heard sword fights compared to dancing and assumed they would be similar. He was very wrong.
"It is. Once you learn the footwork, it's all about responding and adapting to your partner's movements using that footwork. That's all."
Tashigi tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile. She held her hands out, "Here, I'll show you."
Zoro could feel himself getting flustered. She cannot know how bad he was at this.
She raised a eyebrow, "Is Roronoa Zoro too chicken?"
And Zoro, well, he couldn't let that stand. He took her hands with a scowl.
Tashigi gave him a wide smile before roughly pulling him towards her. He stumbled until they were standing toe-to-toe.
"This is a basic waltz. It's only three steps. When I advance-," Tashigi stepped forward, "you retreat-," and Zoro immediately moved his foot backwards to avoid being stepped on. "When I move to the side-" she stepped to the side, "you mirror me," with Zoro's hands still in her's, his body was pulled along for the ride. "When I retreat-" she stepped backwards, "you advance. That's all it is. Think you can keep up?"
Tashigi had a teasing grin on her lips. Zoro could feel his face heat up and his hands start to sweat. "Sounds easy enough."
Oh, he was about to fail spectacularly in front of a pretty girl. How Sanji does this on the regular Zoro doesn't know. His heart was beating faster than it did during the fight earlier today.
"Great. Now all we do is add another side-step to make four total steps, and move in a square pattern. Then repeat, like katas."
A square? Zoro thought she was teaching him a waltz, not square dancing.
Just then Tashigi released his hands and moved to grip his waist. Zoro's arms were raised awkwardly between them as she pulled him closer, before dropping to her shoulders.
"So that's what you're after," Zoro couldn't resist teasing her back, "You just want my swords."
Tashigi's eyes flicked up to his as her face flushed. She released one hand to smack him on the chest. "I am not! I need to push and pull on your hips to guide you until you recognize my movements enough to do it intuitively by yourself. And I need to make sure our swords don't catch on each other and tangle."
Zoro huffed a laugh at her outburst, a laugh she must've felt as her fingers flexed on his sides. It was considerate though. Usopp tried to teach him by yelling numbers at him and expected him to understand what that meant. And while facing one another like this their swords were likely to knock into each other as she wore hers on left and his on the right.
"Alright Glasses, but I'm keeping my eye on you."
She decided to respond by suddenly pushing him back to move herself forward. Zoro's fingers gripped the tops of her shoulders in surprise. Then she pushed them to the left. Zoro was trying to regain his footing when she pulled him forward into her, and then she pushed them to the left, stopping in the same spot of grass they began on.
"That square pattern is called a box step. Not bad. Most people look down at their feet and that's how they get tripped up."
"'Not bad'?" Zoro echoed.
"There still much room for improvement."
Zoro flicked at lock of hair that had made its way over her shoulder when she moved her head.
"I've got all night."