Very tangentially related to the theme, but...
Title: Symbols of promiseTheme: Set #3 - Thorn
Claim: Zoro
Words: 1073
Rating: G
Warnings: None, unless you don't know who Brook is.
Disclaimers: I don't own One Piece.
Acknowledgments: Thanks as always to zelda_addict for beta-ing!
It took quite a while for the Strawhats to get accustomed to the presence of their new crewmate. It wasn't the fact that he was a living, walking skeleton, although Usopp and Chopper had been rather nervous about sharing a room with him in the beginning, despite their denials. It wasn't his waking them up at the crack of dawn with a performance of "Black Handkerchief of Happiness" either, although that was annoying as hell. No, where Brook turned out to be the biggest thorn in the Strawhats' side was the inordinate length of time he spent in the bathroom each day. Not only that, but he somehow always managed to occupy the bathroom when someone else wanted to use it, as Zoro was finding out, to his chagrin.
"Oi, Brook! How much longer?" Zoro yelled over the sound of the musician singing in the shower.
The singing stopped for a moment. "Ah, I'm sorry, Zoro-san, I think I may still be quite a while!" Brook called back.
Zoro muttered a rude curse and stomped off to the galley, fuming. Having just finished an arduous bout of training under a hot sun, he'd really been looking forward to a cold shower.
"Oi, marimo, I don't want you dripping sweat all over my..." Sanji stopped short in his complaint when he saw the black look on Zoro's face. His eye flickered in the direction of the bathroom, from which the words of "Bink's Sake" could distantly be heard. "Brook again, huh?" he asked, in the voice of a man who'd been there before.
Zoro dumped his towel on the table. "How long does that bag of bones need to clean himself, anyway?" he grumbled.
Sanji snorted. "Not that you would know anything about haircare," he said, glancing at Zoro's thatch of green moss, "but it probably takes quite a while for him to fix up that afro of his."
"It's just hair," Zoro groused. "If it's so difficult to manage, he can just have it cut short." He pulled out his katana from his haramaki and laid them on the table. If he was going to have to wait for Brook, he would take the opportunity to give his swords a good cleaning, he decided. He always found the activity calming, and he definitely could use some calming down right now.
"As if Luffy'd let him, he loves Brook's afro," Sanji shrugged. Zoro made a half-impatient, half-bemused noise. "Besides," the cook continued, "you do know why Brook's so protective of his hair, don't you?"
"Why?" Zoro asked shortly, his attention already beginning to divert towards his task as he wiped down the blades, removing the old layer of oil with a sheet of rice paper in sharp, abrupt strokes that betrayed the extent of his exasperation.
"Because that afro's the only way Laboon's going to recognise him, now that he's a skeleton. That's how he's going to keep his promise," Sanji explained. Zoro froze mid-stroke, his brow furrowing in thought. "Well, I'm off to deliver these desserts to Nami-san and Robin-chan. Make sure you don't leave a mess, marimo."
"Yeah, yeah." Zoro resumed his work, each stroke slower and more contemplative now, only to be interrupted half an hour later when Brook popped his head in, looking apologetic.
"Ah, you're here, Zoro-san. I do apologise for hogging the bathroom like that. It's free for you to use now."
"That's all right," Zoro said gruffly. "You were taking care of that, weren't you?" He pointed Wado Ichimonji in the direction of Brook's extravagant hairdo.
"Yoho! Indeed, I was." Brook gave Zoro a puzzled look for a moment. Then he ventured, "If you don't mind me saying so, Zoro-san, I'm surprised."
"About what?"
"That you're so tolerant of such an...unmanly activity." Not that Brook himself found taking care of his afro unmanly, but he suspected the younger swordsman might. He already knew Zoro to be a man among men, and supremely impatient with anything that detracted from his goal of becoming stronger. All Zoro did was train and eat and sleep, as far as Brook could tell, and he would never encumber himself with anything that actually needed this much maintenance unless it brought him closer to his dream.
Then again, there was Luffy-san...
"It's not unmanly," Zoro corrected, sliding Wado in and out of its white sheath a few times, checking that the movement was smooth. "It's a symbol of your promise, isn't it? This is mine."
Brook looked in wonder at the beautiful white katana. Though he could not claim to be a great swordsman, he knew a great sword when he saw one, and he knew Zoro had three. The red-sheathed blade he knew little about, except that Zoro sometimes lectured it as he would a troublesome child. The hard, black blade had of course come from the samurai Ryuuma, and he knew that Zoro treated it with utmost respect. But the white katana was special beyond either of those. He'd noticed from the beginning that Zoro always handled it carefully, almost lovingly, and at last Brook knew why. The white katana was Zoro's afro.
"I know what it's like to be the last person left to carry the burden of a promise," Zoro was saying, drawing Brook's attention back from his revelation to the present. He stood up, wrapping up his sword-cleaning kit and tucking it into his haramaki along with the three katana, and nodded towards Brook's head. "So take good care of it." Zoro slung the towel over his shoulder and headed towards the door, as Brook fought against the tears he was sure the man would not appreciate. Then an idea popped into his skull.
"Um, Zoro-san..." Brook began, apprehensive but a little hopeful.
"Yeah, Brook?" Zoro stopped and turned around.
"I was wondering if you could do me a favour..."
"Sure," Zoro said readily, feeling a bit guilty at his ungenerous thoughts from earlier. "What is it?"
"Well, it's like this," Brook said, gaining courage. "I have some trouble reaching the back of my afro, you see, so if you could just help me comb..."
"HELL NO!"
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I really have to stop making Zoro so nice...well, except the refusing-to-do-hairdressing part.