The landscape of Sabaody Archipelago was misguiding; serene and peaceful in appearance, despite what went on there and the nature of its visitors.

Looking around appreciatively at the soothing green and blue hues of the landscape and enjoying the gentle, consistent pops of distant bubbles, she couldn't help but think what a shame it was that such a beautiful looking 'island' was home to some of the worst activities that went on in the world.

Her deep and thoughtful reverie was broken by the obnoxious sound of cheap beer swilling back to the bottom of the bottle of her current company followed by an equally obnoxious; "Ahhh" of satisfaction.

She narrowed her eyes at him. Here she was quietly contemplating the wrongs of the world surrounding them in full view and there he was seemingly oblivious to it all, catching an early afternoon buzz.

Wiping away the overspill from his mouth with the back of his hand, he raised a brow at her expression. "What?"

"Nothing, Zoro." She sighed out.

"Want some? I did offer." He asked her, tilting his half empty bottle in her direction.

"Nah I'm...meh alright, I'll have a little." Taking the bottle he offered her, she promptly grabbed the edge of his open shirt and wiped the rim his mouth had just been on before slipping the bottle to her own lips with a sly smile. Awaiting the rebuttal.

"Oi oi, what's that about?! Don't act like I have cooties or something after I offer you my drink, little jerk." He leant down and with a little more force than necessary, rest his elbow on top of her head to emphasise his point. Nearly spitting out what small amount of alcohol she'd managed to get into her mouth before his elbow rudely contacted the top of her head, she couldn't help the giggle that escaped her as she looked up at his annoyed face.

"Awww, I don't think you have cooties Zoro, sweetheart." She cooed, gently removing his arm from its currently draped position over her scalp.

Uh-oh. That nickname, that honeyed tone, that low octave, those bedroom eyes. He looked at her, nervously anticipating her next action, knowing where this was going already but optimistically hoping he was wrong.

A teasing smile took her lips as she maintained eye contact with him, lifted the rim of the bottle back to her mouth and slowly, deliberately placed her lips around it, tilted her head back gently and allowed the liquid to slip into her mouth, making an obvious show of swallowing every mouthful. She even had the nerve to emit a quiet satisfied hum as she removed the bottle from her mouth.

It took a considerable amount of willpower not to audibly gulp at the less than subtle tease as she leant in closer to him, leaning her hand on the arm that she had removed from her head...bringing his attention to the fact that she had never actually released him and that he had been so suckered into her little display that he hadn't even realised.

"On the contrary, I'm quite happy to prove how eager I am to swap spit with you...in another context." She purred close to his face, happily noting his current fixation on her lips as they moved.

"C-Cut it out, dammit!" Pulling away with a deep blush blooming on his face, Zoro moved his eyes off of her, to anywhere but her, that damn woman.

Her laughter made him reluctantly look at her again from the corner of his eyes as he found himself unable to help but wonder how such a warm and innocent sounding thing could come from such a devious little creature.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself." She managed to say in between her subsiding giggles. "Here, want this back?" She tilted the bottle towards him, which he grudgingly accepted, muttering under his breath as he continued walking ahead of her. His response, apparently worthy of another round of deceptively sweet-sounding laughter, much to his annoyance.

Lifting the bottle back to his own lips for a swig, he stopped short when he felt the sensation of being watched. Zoro didn't allow the stutter in his movement to last more than a split second and resumed taking a drink. He didn't want whoever was watching them right now to realise that he was aware of it just yet and tried to subtly use his peripheral vision to catch sight of whatever had gotten his gut into a mild twist.

He'd heard a scuffle up ahead a few minutes ago but hadn't seen anything past the crowd gathered up there. He hadn't paid it much mind. This many pirates, bounty hunters, kidnappers, marines and big egos in one place? Scuffles had been breaking out constantly since they'd got there.

His predatorial scanning of the people ahead was interrupted when she caught up and fell back into pace with him as they walked, looping her arm through his free left one and beaming up at him with a big smile on her face, obviously pleased with herself. He rolled his eyes at her in response but he'd miss her antics, he always did, even if she did poke fun at him. That smile though, he couldn't help but think how beautiful she was as they continued their aimless stroll through the streets of the archipelago.

"Hey Zoro, let's do something fun before we part ways, ok?" Thankful that her voice had stopped his train of thought at simply appreciating the fact that she had a pretty face, he chuckled, finishing the last drops of the beer in his bottle before tossing it neatly into a nearby public trash can.

"Sure, fun like what? Pick a fight? Find a good bar?" He asked, looking down at her with a positively demonic grin of his own at the thought of a good fight.

"Hmmm, more like let's visit that huge amusement park and buy super sweet and fatty things to regret we ate later on?" She asked, looking up at him pleadingly.

Zoro was certain that the additional squeeze of his arm and pressing of her breasts against it was absolutely not accidental. 'Beautiful' was soon replaced with 'manipulative wench' in his mind as he looked at her but he eventually folded at the hopeful look in her eyes and sighed in defeat. "Fine, not really my thing but seeing as we won't be meeting up for a whil-" He stopped abruptly in his tracks, gaze fixed forward and body tense.

Coming to a stop beside him, she followed his line of sight to a small group of people walking towards them. The other people on the street were parting around them, eagerly trying to stay out of their way. She counted at least five men, all wearing some sort of white boilersuit, one...bear...in an orange version and in front, a man in casual wear with a strikingly large Nodachi slung across his shoulder. They were about 30 feet away.

She couldn't feel any malicious intent coming from them but wasn't going to question Zoro's instincts on this. Unconsciously, she tightened her grip on his arm as she cautiously watched the men walking towards them, looking for any sudden movement that may give away intention to attack but saw none.

25 feet away.

She could already tell to keep her focus on the man in front, the one with the Nodachi, he was clearly the leader of this group and no attack would come without him commanding or initiating it she reasoned. They still didn't look to her as though they would but she couldn't seem to help the irrational rise of her heart rate as they drew closer.

20 feet away.

He was tall, very tall, certainly over six feet...she barely managed to get past five herself. Olive complexion, pierced ears - the gold was glinting in the early afternoon sunlight. A smug smirk above a neatly maintained goatee was all that could be seen from the shadows that fell from beneath the brim of his hat.

15 feet away.

His hoodie was concealing lean muscle, that she was sure of. He was stronger than his slim frame suggested, if the size of his weapon was any indication. She could only imagine how much it actually weighed.

10 feet away.

Taking in the tattoos across his exposed forearms and hand, she read "DEATH" across the fingers clasping the Nodachi to his shoulder as he came closer..."DEATH" was approaching her...the wording of her thought unsettled her a little bit. The man's smirk seemed to widen at that, as if he could hear her morbid thought as clearly as if she had said it out loud. She was starting to feel the anxiety that Zoro clearly felt if the clenched jaw she saw in her peripheral vision was anything to go by but she didn't dare remove her focus from the man approaching them.

5 feet away.

The man looked up then, tilting the brim of his hat back and as if he had known exactly where to direct it, his gaze immediately locked with hers. A paralysing clash of steel grey to her own dark blue. At the exact same moment their eyes met, a large hand slammed onto her waist and pulled her in close. Startled by the timing and suddenness of the contact initially, she quickly realised Zoro had drawn her further into his side protectively. She looked at him then but he didn't return her gaze; he looked like he was trying to maintain a calm demeanour but she knew he probably wasn't far off from snarling at the approaching man.

0 feet away.

The man...she quickly looked back at him, finding his eyes had never left hers and to find him and his group were right in front of them. He easily towered over her, she barely reached the bottom of his nose in heeled boots and he wasn't even stood at full height. Her breath caught...But there was no pause, no hesitation in his movements. He and his group fluidly walked to the side of them to avoid collision. Oblivious or uncaring of the tension-filled standoff their presence had caused, completely at ease.

He was side to side with her now as he made his way past, his arm tauntingly close to her own. She could feel his body heat but there was barely any physical contact, only the faintest possible brush of his skin on hers.

He never broke eye contact. Though his face remained forword his eyes simply slipped into a side-glance to hold her gaze hostage.

His smirk never faltered and his lips never parted to speak.

He reached his hand up then.

Zoro tensed to such a degree at the movement that she was certain the grip he had on her waist would bruise.

But no attack came.

He cordially tipped his hat, as a polite gentleman would, his smirk widening ever so slightly before he returned his gaze forward and continued to walk past her at his own pace.

...

She was certain she had forgotten how to breathe, when had she stopped? When had the street around them been muted and replaced with the horribly loud rushing sound of her own blood past her ears? When had her mouth gotten so dry? She was shocked at how strongly her body had reacted to this encounter. Had she been that scared or was it just anticipation and excitement for a possible confrontation?...She'd like to believe it was the latter.

That man's body language, he had exuded confidence and power with every stride. His eyes...they were an amazing colour, an unusual hue of blue, nearly grey. Their intensity was something else too; they had pierced and locked her in place. She couldn't help but feel as though he were assessing her, testing her and reading her simultaneously.

The most striking feature of this casually dressed, leisurely paced, seemingly calm and powerful man had undoubtedly been the alarming but subtle glint of madness in his eyes. He was dangerous.

Brought back to her surroundings when she heard the telltale clink of metal to metal as one of Zoro's swords slid back into its sheath, she realised she'd not even noticed he'd begun to draw his weapon. When had he pushed the hilt of that sword with his thumb to begin unsheathing it? Was it when the guy reached for his hat? Or when he lifted his head and looked at her? She hadn't even heard or felt him do it.

Zoro released the breath that apparently he had been holding as well, removed his hand from her waist and looked at her. Neither of them said anything for a moment as they allowed the adrenaline to leave their systems.

He looked down the street at the backs of the men who had passed them; they were already some distance away. Had they always been moving at that pace? It seemed to have taken them an eternity to pass by. Deciding they were far away enough to disregard for now, Zoro looked back at her and she was surprised to see the mild annoyance on his features.

"What?" She wasn't surprised however to hear the crack in her voice as she spoke, her mouth felt like parchment at the moment.

"Why do you always, literally, attract trouble?" He grumbled before turning to walk on ahead of her.