Cold. It had been a cold night, that was all. Nothing more to it.

Hiyori and Toko had huddled up next to him because it was freezing, and he let them. He didn’t think anything of it. He still didn’t. That kind of thing didn’t matter to him. But apparently, it had mattered to her.

She had seen them. He didn’t know when, didn’t know how long she had stood there, looking, assuming whatever the hell she assumed. But after that night, she’d started avoiding him. No more stolen glances across the deck, no more snide remarks meant just for him, no more moments where they found themselves standing too close, breathing the same air, caught in something neither of them had ever cared to name.

She just shut him out.

At first, he let it go. She was stubborn. She needed time? Fine. He wasn’t the type to chase. But then he saw her with Law, standing too damn close, touching his arm, smiling at him like he’d done something worth admiring.

Praising him.

Zoro had been there too. He’d fought Big Mom too. But there she was, with Law, like Zoro was nothing. Like she hadn’t been his—

No. Not his. Not really. They weren’t anything official.

But they were something. Weren’t they?

He hadn’t asked for it. He wasn’t good with things like that. And she… she was too pragmatic, too sharp-edged to waste time on things that weren’t solid, defined. She’d had something with Ace once. Then he died, and she mourned like the fire in her had gone out. It took time, but she’d moved on—to Law, apparently.

That pissed him off more than it should have.

So when he saw her again, laughing at something Law said, looking at him like that, Zoro had enough. His patience, already thin, snapped.

He didn’t think—just acted. Grabbed her wrist, pulled her away from the others, to somewhere quiet, where it was just them.

She yanked against his grip, fierce as always, but he didn’t let go. Not yet.

“Oi, care to explain why you’ve been ignoring me?”

His voice was rough, more anger in it than he meant to show.