Hot Chocolate

After Hawkeye left the room, Zoro clambered out the bed he was laid upon, in spite of his wounds.

"What the hell are you doing, you idiot! Do you know how much work it is to get you all bandaged up?!" Perona nagged.

Zoro ignored her admonishment and grabbed his swords. He slowly lurched his way back outside, where Cherry could sense a multitude of some sort of large primates lying in wait outside the castle.

"Just let him go, pink girl. He's got that determined look in his eyes, no point trying to stop him." Cherry said.

"Don't call me pink girl! You'll call me Perona-sama, and nothing else!" Perona puffed out her cheeks, still annoyed at her.

"Sure thing, Pepperoni-sama~" Cherry mocked with a smirk.

Perona's face started turning red with barely contained anger, until cabernet walked over and patted her head softly.

"It's okay Perona. Cherry is just teasing you. Nami told me that the best way to deal with her teasing is to pretend it flew over your head." Cabernet comforted and advised.

"What?! How many times have you done that?!" Cherry was shocked.

Cabernet simply turned her head away, which was an answer in its own right.

"I swear, I always underestimate how devious you are. What happened to my sweet little wine barrel from before." Cherry dramatically lamented.

"She lived with a shameless woman for a year. Only an idiot couldn't adapt by then." Cabernet spoke with her nose held high in the air. "Also, Chopper taught me sex education, while Robin taught me how to recognize innuendos."

Perona started to blush madly in Cabernet's arms. Just how many times had she made certain insinuations thinking that the seemingly naive Cabernet couldn't understand her? At least a few dozen times, she was certain.

She glanced up at the muscular woman's face. Cabernet gave her a knowing smile and a wink, which only served to fuel her embarrassment.

Cherry watched all this with great amusement. She sent a thought message to her along with a thumbs up. 'Cabernet, I must say that I am very impressed.'

"Oh, Pepperoni-sama. Have you had the chance to ride Cabernet yet?" Cherry asked.

"H-huh?! What the hell are you asking?!" Perona asked in turn, stunned at the shamelessness of the question.

"Well, I'm asking since you've been here together for a few weeks. Everyone on the Straw Hat crew has had a turn to ride Cabernet at least once in the time we've traveled together." Cherry said.

Perona's brain short circuited for several seconds.

"E-even that stupid swordsman?" She asked, not wanting to hear the answer.

"Yup. Although Zoro wasn't alone during the times that he rode her. Usopp, Luffy, and Sanji were often there too." Cherry was having a great deal of difficulty keeping a straight face at this point.

"Even the long nose did... that...?" Perona muttered.

She looked back at Cabernet for either a denial or a confirmation. Cabernet was in tears, glaring at Cherry with a hurt look.

"You... how could you say that...? You said you wouldn't tell anyone..." Cabernet's voice was cracking from her emotions.

Immediately, Perona's protective instincts went into overdrive.

"D-don't worry about it, Cabby! It doesn't change the way I feel about you! You're still the same Cabby as always to me!" Perona tried to reassure her. She whipped around to unleash her fury at Cherry.

Cherry was barely stiffling her laughter. Perona was absolutely outraged, livid, furious!

Until she heard Cabernet accidentally let out a giggle, that she quickly tried to supress by clamping her hands over her mouth.

"Huh?" At this point Perona was terribly confused. 'Why is Cabby laughing now?'

"Okay, okay! That's enough. I'm sorry Perona, I may have taken that too far..." Cherry managed to say between bursts of laughter.

"What the hell do you mean?!" Perona shouted grabbing Cherry by the shirt and shaking her.

"Cabernet is a ship who ate a human-type zoan devil fruit." Cherry explained once she calmed down.

"A ship?" Perona looked back at Cabernet who had also composed herself and she gave her a nod in the affirmative.

Perona was silent for several moments whilst she processed this new information. 'A ship? Can I date a ship?'

She shook her head, emptying her mind of these questions to focus on what was really important.

"You tricked me! Give me back my sympathy!" Perona started to pound her fists against Cabernet uselessly.

"You were very cute, though. I'm glad that you were willing to accept and defend me." Cabernet flashed her signature smile which melted Perona's anger away instantly.

"No! I'm still mad! I'm done talking to you!" Perona wouldn't forgive her that easily though and stormed away. Cabernet followed after to try and make it up to her.

Hawkeye walked in with two mugs of hot chocolate a moment later and set them down on the table in the room before sitting down. He motioned for Cherry to come sit as well.

Cherry sat down and took a sip of the hot chocolate. "Mm, this is quite good. By the way, why were you waiting outside for so long?"

"I wasn't." Hawkeye lied.

"You're a very good liar." Cherry commented. They sat in silence for about a minute.

"For what reason did you come here?" Hawkeye asked, sounding a bit more standoffish than he meant to.

"I came to get Cabernet. I didn't know that you were here." Cherry answered straightforwardly.

Another minute passed in silence.

"Do you... want to know about me and your mother...?" Hawkeye offered. He couldn't stand the silence, so he'd go with a direct confrontation.

"Oh, you actually remember who my mother was? That's surprising, you must have had a lot of women in your bed in your lifetime." Cherry said, actually quite surprised as she figured him for a playboy.

"Jackelyn was special. No woman ever tempted me away from my chosen path in the way she did. Though I chose to stay true to that path in the end." Hawkeye said, feeling somewhat lighter after getting that off his chest.

"Oh, that's nice. I never got to meet her myself." Cherry said nonchalantly.

'Damn, I stepped on a land mine!' Hawkeye chastised himself for not looking up beforehand whether Jackelyn was still alive.

Whilst Hawkeye tried to think of a way to salvage this, Cherry was lost in thought. 'I hadn't planned on meeting this doofus so soon. I'm not strong enough to kick his ass yet.'

Hawkeye decided to just apologize, but before he could, Zoro came limping inside and prostrated himself before Hawkeye like he was his martial arts instructor.

"I'm begging you, teach me the way of the sword!" Zoro spoke shamelessly.

Hawkeye really hadn't expected this from Zoro, who had previously shown himself to have great pride and honor.

Before he could express how disappointed he was in him, he felt eyes staring at him. Cherry was watching him with rapt attention, more focused on him than at any point during their 'conversation'.

'Shit, what do I do?! Should I be lenient this time for her sake? We basically just met each other for the first time, but I don't want to risk burning the bridge either...' Hawkeye was stuck between his pride as a swordsman and building a potential relationship with her daughter.

Cherry turned her gaze at Zoro. "Wow, you really don't have any shame do you Zoro? You've changed a great deal since I first met you."

Hawkeye took that as the go ahead. "I am truly disappointed in you, Roronoa. You ask to be taught by your enemy? Know your shame."

"I'm so proud of you, Zoro!" Cherry spoke enthusiastically.

'Fuck! How did I forget about her nickname?! How do I salvage this now? I was so harsh with him...' Hawkeye felt like a damned politician and he hated it immensely.

Zoro wasn't fazed at all by either of their comments. "I wish to get stronger!"

'Oh! I know!' Hawkeye had an idea. "You aren't even able to beat the baboons and you come crawling to me?"

'I'm so smart. She can't blame me for being picky about who I take as a student.' Hawkeye thought.

"I defeated the baboons!" Zoro responded instantly.

'Damn it!' Hawkeye screamed internally.

Cherry was just enjoying the show at this point. She might not be able to bash his teeth in, but she could make him squirm.

"Your head is the only one i have yet to take, but I am not foolish enough to believe that I can take it as I am!" Zoro argued.

'Aha! I got you this time, Roronoa! You have given me to ammunition I need to reject you in front of my daughter!' Hawkeye celebrated inwardly. "I don't understand. If you still consider me your enemy, then what purpose does it serve to lower your head before me and ask for my teachings?!"

"So that I can surpass you!" Zoro looked up to meet his eyes.

'Not bad.' Hawkeye thought, and started to laugh. It seemed at least, Zoro had sharper tongue than he did.

Hawkeye agreed to take him as a student, finding the idea of training the man who would come for his head to be quite interesting.