onepieceyaoi100 | Uh. I'm not good at introductions. ^

Hi. ... I'm Chai. I'm new. *insert hearty chorus of duhh* And so as not to look like an idiot, here is something to make my opening post a bit longer. I'm not very good at titles. >>

Title: Debts to Pay
Rating: G.
Word Count: 254
Pairing: ZoLu. LuZo. Whatever.

This is before Zoro and Luffy find Nami but after they leave the Marine headquarters. I think.

Roronoa Zoro was about to stand up from his chair and walk out of the restaurant (more like ration-hovel, he thought) when he and Luffy were stopped by a large waiter who seemed out of place in a collared shirt and long sleeves. "Your tab is over fifteen hundred beri, sir," the man said with a slight growl. "Meat isn't cheap. Do you have the money? If not, you'll have to wash dishes until your debt clears."

For the first time in his life, Zoro was flummoxed. He felt through his haramaki, coming up with two wads of lint and an elderly, withered banana, but no beri. It's the dishwater for you, my lad! he heard a voice cackle inside his head, and glanced at Luffy. After all, he was the one who ate forty-two plates of prime cow and had to be dragged from the table whining when a busboy came to clear up.

The captain grinned broadly and fished in his pocket, coming up with a crinkled wad of beri. He pressed it into the scowling waiter's hand and said, "That should pay for the meal. Thanks!" Placated if not satisfied, the waiter stalked off and Zoro turned to Luffy.

"Thanks yourself," he said somewhat gruffly, "even if you did eat all the food." "It's what shipmates do!" Luffy replied, and hugged him violently. Zoro started to protest, but held still in his captain's embrace. It's not polite to jerk away from someone who you owe more than 1,500 beri to.