— @bcrnfercl​

“Ah——! Shit!”

Sanji yanked his hand back, but it was too late. Along the side of his hand, between the last knuckle of his pinky finger and his wrist, was a deep set of divots where Tamah had bitten him. Only one of the punctures bled, fat beads of red prickling inside the wound.

— @bcrnfercl

“Y’know, you’re going to make yourself sick if you all’a that too quickly.” The warning was a clipped and stern one, but Sanji made no move to remove the bag of candy from her. He knew better than to take food from a hungry child, and he wanted her to make better choices when they were presented to her. “Dinner is almost ready. Put the candy away, come eat something that’s actually good for you, then you can have a few more pieces.”

        -- ❝ how long are you gonna sit there for ? ❞ hand reaches to carefully PET the young girl’s head, not wanting to surprise her. he’d been watching her for a while, stacking stones as she did what she pleased with his office ( he could always get it fixed later, so might as well ). but, as expected, there was only so much DESTRUCTION of his territory he could endure before interrupting her.

      tamah has naturally kept her distance from the crew, something that was obvious to everyone on board. she crawled out sometimes when amusement peaked from their captain, the sniper and the doctor, or when the smell of food perks her nose up with the appearance of a certain blond, and other little moments that might grasp the curiosity of a child. 

       the time she approached the swordsman can be counted on a single hand though, a rarity for those acquainted with the straw hats to desire a familiarity with him 

          ( so he heard how “ intimidating ” and “ scary ” he could be … )

            thus, her abrupt approach to the first-aid kid resting next to him             and eyes looking upwards gave him a jolt.

       he watches as she picks objects out of the kit curiously, touching and feeling the band-aids and gauze, setting them aside as though she was going to be using them. the newly earned red on his arm doesn’t make an effort to hide, openly in plain sight and is meant to be covered so there grows a passing thought of what if, but soon comes a level of uncertainty when zoro sees the young girl pick up a bandage roll, only for the roll itself to fall afar, leaving a trail of white and ultimately, a small mess. his hand reaches over to the bandage, picking it out of her hands and putting the piece together. 

                  ‘ hey, i can take care of this myself. ’

                this was becoming an unfortunate norm.

      a pirate isn’t meant to play hero. zoro knows he didn’t set out to sea to save villages that are in danger or to fight off evil-- no, he is the “evil” of society, a pirate and he can say outright his only interest is fighting by the side of his crew and aiming to achieve the title of the world’s greatest swordsman. otherwise, the safety of what isn’t the business of the crew tends to be something he isn’t fascinated by. thus, he keeps his focus on the food in front of him, spoon digging into a mountain full of rice mixed with curry and he lifts it to his lips, halting right when a loud gurgle comes from the suspiciously placed barrel on the deck and shakes as the cap of the barrel closes when zoro turns to eye at it. sunrise was just coming, the rest of his crew wouldn’t slowly wake one by one til later in the day... meaning, the duty of lookout and making sure the stowaway doesn’t starve is given to zoro. sighs, but there’s not an inch of complaint that leaves him since, in the end, a stranger’s business always tends to end up being the straw hats’ business too. ‘ how long are you going to stay in there ? ’ voice clear and audible, he made sure it was at a level so she could hear. zoro drops the spoon onto the plate and shifts the meal a little closer to the direction of the barrel. 

❤ — @bcrnfercl

It was with a sharp and sudden gasp that Sanji nearly tackled the small girl.

“No!” He didn’t mean to snap at her and felt in his gut that he would regret it immediately, but it was difficult not to act on impulse when her hair was an uneven and choppy mess. There had been many reasons for him not to trust her with a pair of scissors, but he had failed to consider this one.

“You can’t use these on your own like that!” He set them aside, hoping she wouldn’t grab them again.

Sighing, the cook stood back an inch or two to observe the mess she made. His irritation faded, and his expression softened. Her decision to go forward with the idea herself wasn’t a good one, but there was no time for excess scolding when her hair needed fixing.

“Alright — next time you want your hair cut, tell someone. Doin’ it yourself doesn’t work out most of the time, trust me. Tried doing my own when I was younger too, and the guys back home lost their shit. There are two people on this ship that would be happy to do this for you.”

He ran his fingers through her messy hair and cringed slightly.