No one had time to respond. At that very moment, 'Lieutenant Tashigi' began to wake. It was a slow and difficult process, accompanied by occasional moans. Had she been a man, no one would have paid the slightest attention, but plaintive moans from the lips of a beautiful, nearly naked girl? Every man held his breath at once.
Eventually, Tashigi's eyelids slowly rose, and a weak voice asked:
"Where... where am I?"
Zoro stared stupidly at the girl, Nami continued shooting lightning from her eyes, Luffy smiled, Sanji drooled, and Johnny, Yosaku, and Usopp simply could not think of anything appropriate to say — or whether they ought to say anything at all. 'Hello, you're aboard a pirate ship. Our captain kidnapped you, stripped you, and gave you to his first mate as a present!' For some reason, none of them considered that a sensible answer, however truthful it might be. As soon became clear, however, they did not need to say anything. The moment Tashigi regained consciousness, her condition began improving rapidly. Soon it improved enough for her to understand her present location perfectly well on her own. Zoro's extremely familiar face helped considerably, even though the young man currently looked like the victim of a severe mental disability.
"...You... You... YOU... YOU!.. YOU!!!"
With every new 'you,' the girl's voice grew stronger and more certain, while the fury in her eyes burned brighter. At one point Tashigi tried to stand, and only then did she realize that she was inside a large crate and wrapped in gift ribbons that barely covered her naked body. Two beams of almost tangible rage struck Zoro in the face—or at least that was how it appeared to everyone present when the girl aimed her furious gaze at the green-haired swordsman. Then, after finally getting to her feet, Tashigi drew the katana from its sheath and tried to take Zoro's head from his shoulders. She failed. Every movement she made was slow and clumsy, and despite his stupor the young man remembered to lean his head back. Not remotely discouraged by failure, Tashigi struggled out of the crate and advanced purposefully toward Zoro, continuing to swing her katana in an effort to cut off at least some part of him. She acted as though no one existed aboard the ship except the green-haired swordsman.
"She really shouldn't do that," Luffy commented. Everyone quickly understood what he meant when Tashigi's 'clothes' began slipping from her body and soon left her completely naked.
It took the girl several more minutes to realize that she was running around the deck without a stitch of clothing. Conqueror's Haki had a powerful effect on the brain, and the first ten minutes after waking were especially difficult, so even seemingly obvious things reached Tashigi only with great effort. Her rage, however, was too strong. She stopped and covered herself with her arms, looking around for something with which to hide her nudity before resuming her pursuit of Zoro. That was when her gaze fell upon Yosaku—Yosaku, who was still wearing Smoker's clothes. Who could have blamed her for reaching a completely incorrect conclusion at that moment?
"C-Captain S-Smoker?" the girl stammered in a choked, horrified voice, her eyes opening wide as her face rapidly turned pale.
Noticing Tashigi's reaction and the moisture gathering in her eyes, Yosaku hurried to explain himself.
"Hey, hey!" He waved one hand. "This isn't what you think! I only took your captain's clothes. Zoro was the one who finished him off!" Yosaku pointed at the swordsman.
Tashigi froze in shock for an instant. Then she somehow became even paler, and tears began streaming from her eyes. Mechanically turning her head toward Zoro, the girl did not so much scream as burst into loud sobs. Completely forgetting her nudity, she threw herself furiously at the entirely innocent swordsman. Yosaku remained frozen in place. He had not meant what Tashigi had once again assumed! It was already useless to explain - the girl was clearly hysterical. And it was too late to explain for an entirely different reason as well. With his careless words, Yosaku had released a beast far more terrifying than female hysteria. Before he could recover, a hail of monstrously powerful blows crashed down upon his back. Luffy, struck speechless with delight, was expressing his captainly approval in the only way left to him. Tears poured continuously from the young man's eyes, and his ecstatic gaze practically blinded everyone with its radiance.
"I can't believe I didn't think of something like that myself!!!" Luffy finally managed once he had more or less recovered the ability to speak, still weeping as he forced the words out in a voice overflowing with admiration.
After such a reaction, there could be no doubt that Luffy would never allow anyone to dispel Tashigi's misunderstanding. Everyone understood this perfectly, including the newly freed and deeply displeased Nami. With the Sube Sube no Mi—the Slip-Slip Fruit—ordinary restraints could not hold her for more than an instant unless they were constantly reinforced with Armament Haki. Even so, Nami could not entirely conceal her opinion of the situation, so she kicked Luffy's leg several times in displeasure. The young man did not so much as blink. His shining gaze was fixed entirely on the grief-stricken Tashigi, who was trying to stab Zoro while sobbing uncontrollably. The swordsman had already recovered and calmly evaded every attack, occasionally parrying her strikes with nothing more than a light slap of his palm against the blade. The difference in their levels was obvious to everyone, and it was colossal. The girl's bitter tears became mingled with tears of despair. The longer Tashigi tried to kill Zoro, the more clearly she understood the utter futility of her attempts. Roronoa Zoro had killed her captain, yet she was so weak that he did not even consider it necessary to draw his sword against her. And the deeper the girl's grief and despair became, the more ecstatic Luffy's gaze grew. The next few days—or even weeks—promised to be incredibly entertaining! For Luffy, naturally, but certainly not for Tashigi.
Hysteria places a tremendous strain on the human nervous system. The 'louder' it is—with shouting, running, and fighting—the more quickly it ends and the stronger the emptiness afterward. A 'quiet' breakdown can last for hours, usually expressed by someone falling into a prolonged stupor, withdrawing completely into their thoughts, and ceasing to react to the outside world. A loud one lasts only minutes. Tashigi's momentum endured for roughly ten minutes, after which her legs literally gave way from exhaustion. Before her knees could touch the deck, however, the 'White Knight' Sanji appeared beside her. His uncharacteristically white jacket—the result of a shopping trip with Nami—settled over her bare shoulders and back, its size concealing her naked body completely.
"Such a beautiful lady should smile, not cry!" Sanji immediately began his usual refrain. "Tears on the face of such a beauty are a crime against the whole world!"
Tashigi reacted neither to the blond man's gallantry nor to his words. Raising her head, she stared at Zoro. The girl had almost no strength remaining, so there were no 'laser beams of blazing hatred,' but no one could possibly have called her gaze friendly. Zoro stared silently back. To Tashigi he appeared absolutely calm and unshakable, like a block of granite. To the Hats watching him? Had Zoro been a cat, he would have looked like a ball of fur with two button eyes. No one in the family had ever seen the swordsman so nervous and—an entirely unprecedented thing—afraid... or frightened? All because of a girl he could kill with a careless slap. To Yosaku, Johnny, Sanji, Nami, and Usopp, it became obvious that some unknown connection existed between Zoro and the Marine, though none of them understood what it was. At the same time, after everything they had witnessed, all five now clearly understood that Luffy had not 'given' his first mate some random Marine, but this particular one.
"By the way, our food is getting cold, and we were planning to celebrate leaving East Blue!" Sanji spoke again after the silence on deck dragged on, attempting to repair the situation with a thoroughly false smile.
Surprisingly, the result proved far better than the attempt itself.
"Damn, I'd already forgotten!" Yosaku perked up.
"A festive table covered in food cooked by Sanji!" Johnny and Usopp swallowed involuntarily.
The situation with Tashigi and Zoro rapidly slipped into the background—perhaps even the distant background. Less than a minute after the blond man's words, only Sanji himself, Zoro, Tashigi, and Nami remained on deck. Ecstatic cries began coming from the kitchen instead, with Luffy's voice sounding louder than anyone else's. As usual, after creating yet another problem, Luffy immediately removed himself from the scene, thereby 'generously' allowing somebody else to deal with the consequences of his actions. The situation itself was hardly new; it was familiar and typical. The difference was that the result of his latest actions could not be eliminated in the usual fashion... Meaning that no particular number of people—one, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand—could currently be killed to resolve the dilemma. Theoretically, of course, Tashigi herself could be killed and the problem solved in the traditional way, but that was only theoretical. Even setting morality aside, none of the Hats could predict how Zoro would react if any of them contemplated killing Tashigi. That included Luffy and even Zoro himself. Though the swordsman had calmed down, he was still very far from his normal state. That was why Nami took charge. Predictably. She was the only member of the family who had always known how to solve problems without fighting and murder. Everyone else either did not want to or did not know how.
With a heavy sigh, Nami approached Tashigi, took her by the elbow, and practically dragged her into the cabin she shared with Luffy. The Marine needed to be made at least somewhat presentable and, finally, dressed. The latter promised certain obvious difficulties: beside Nami, Tashigi looked like an awkward teenager next to a grown woman. In reality, Nami was eighteen and therefore a full three years younger than Tashigi. Yet from the outside it looked as though the Marine had barely turned fifteen while Nami was twenty-five. Contrary to expectations, however, finding suitable clothes caused no trouble. Nami had barely begun rummaging through her belongings when she found some of her old clothes, which she had believed she had thrown away long ago. They fit Tashigi reasonably well. The Marine barely reacted to Nami's actions and dressed almost mechanically. The moment Zoro disappeared from her sight, Tashigi's anger began retreating beneath the pressure of grief, despair, and exhaustion.
While Nami dressed her, Tashigi began crying again, only now in silence, occasionally giving a pitiful sniff and wiping away her tears with her hands. Had the circumstances been even slightly different, Nami certainly would not have been able to stop herself from comforting the girl. Whatever else might be true, Nami's adoptive mother had once served in the Marines, and that had left its mark on her. Yet knowing for certain that Smoker—the man Tashigi was mourning so desperately—was alive and well, and that Tashigi herself was in no danger, Nami managed to restrain the urge to comfort her. She might disapprove of Luffy's behavior, but she was already growing accustomed to accepting 'the lesser evil.'
After dressing Tashigi, Nami had initially intended to take her back to the others. One look at the grief-stricken Marine changed her mind. She led Tashigi to the men's cabin and put her to bed in the bunk that had once been intended for Nami herself. Emotionally and physically drained, Tashigi fell unconscious the instant her head touched the pillow. She looked so miserable and defenseless that Nami once again had to restrain the urge to pity the poor girl. In the end, unable to hold herself back completely, she gently stroked the sleeping Marine's hair several times, then put out the light and went up to join the others.
When Nami entered the kitchen, she expected to find the feast in full swing. To her surprise, none of the men had touched the numerous dishes—the products of Sanji's culinary talent—that covered their far from small dining table.
"Nami, how much longer were we supposed to wait for you?" Johnny complained. "We've already flooded the whole floor with drool!"
"Did I ask you to wait?" The girl raised an eyebrow. "You could have started without me," she added as she took her place at the table.
"No, we couldn't!" Luffy said with uncharacteristic weight from his throne-like chair at the head of the table. "If we're celebrating our departure for the Grand Line tomorrow, the whole family has to be here! Think of it as closing one chapter—East Blue—and opening another—the Grand Line."
Sometimes Luffy became particular about the strangest things.
"Considering the circumstances, it would be more accurate to call it the end of the prologue and the beginning of the main story, rather than the end of one chapter," Nami disagreed.
"Or the end of one story and the beginning of another," Johnny added.
"The end of the first volume and the beginning of the second," Yosaku supported him.
"What difference does it make?" Luffy protested. "The point is that Nami's absence was stopping us from celebrating!"
"Well, I'm here now, so we can begin," the girl said, declining to argue further.
"Sanji." Luffy tilted his head slightly to one side.