Blast! Pt18 ~ Dungeon 1

     Zoro chuckles while you bounce beside him as you eat. "You excited partner?" He jokes.
     "Yes, it's going to be so much fun!" You gush.
     "I wouldn't underestimate the dungeon ___." Sabo says.
     "She can afford to," Zoro nudges you playfully. Sabo frowns while Luffy chuckles cheerfully.
     "Shishishi, you guys are a great team!" Luffy chimes.
      “We haven’t even begun yet.” Sabo chuckles in amusement.
      “I’m very excited about this.” You breathe swiftly finishing your food. “Lets get signed up!” You pull Zoro to his feet.
      “Right, see you guys later.” Zoro waves as you take him out of the room, rushing for the sign in area.
       Smoker looks up as you both approach and smiles. “Good morning ___, Zoro.” He greets with a nod. “You two are partners? Sign the highlighted areas together.”
       After signing Smoker gives your team a letter and explains that two teams will enter the same dungeon and race to retrieve a certain object. You and Zoro wait near the dungeon for your team letter to be called. As more teams go past, most not returning, you felt yourself calm considerably.
         ‘This isn’t a game, I need to focus on my goal.’ You scold yourself silently.
         “Hey ___. You got a partner for tomorrow’s dungeon?” A voice makes you look up to see Kid.
         “I cant keep Zoro?” You frown.
        “You can keep me if you’re nice.” Zoro smirks.
        “Shut it mossball….. Anyway you cant have the same partner for both co-op dungeons, the last dungeon is the singles dungeon.” Kid explains.
        “I see…. Then, will you be my partner for tomorrow?” You ask.
        “I was going to ask you.” He comments.
        “Then you two better hope tomorrow’s dungeon isn’t a water one, or you’ll both be screwed.” Law comments coming up.
         “We can do it.” You share a glance with Kid who nods in agreement.
          “Team D.” The call sounds. You and Zoro look at each other.
          “That’s us, see you two later.” You wave before entering the dungeon with Zoro. The doors close behind you, and for a moment everything goes black. Light returns and you both look at your new surroundings. It was a green valley all around, and before you was the entrance into a ruined castle.
           “This looks big.” He murmurs.
           “And fancy.” You agree, looking at it in slight awe.
           “Oh, looks like we’ll be competing.” You look over to see Drake and Sabo.
           “You’ll be losing.” Zoro rumbles. The other team looks at him before giving you sympathetic looks.
            “Here, you might need this.” Sabo hands you a rope. You take it, blinking in confusion. Before you can ask, a chime sounds and everyone surges forward.
             You didn’t get far before you realized that your partner disappeared. “Zoro…?” You stop, looking around. “Zoro!”
             “Hey.” He calls back and you look back to see him wave from a window.
             “How the hell….” You shake your head, jumping up to the window. Zoro helps you in and you promptly tie a rope around him.
             “What…” Zoro raises an eyebrow.
             “This is a race. I don’t want to spend it wondering where my partner is.” You answer before looking around. “What’s our item?”
            “It’s… A pearl from a monster clam.” He recalls.
           “The water would be a dead giveaway… but there’s no water here…. The tower maybe, lets go.” You take the lead, pulling him along. He follows behind calmly.
            “Weird…” He breathes as he falls in step with you.
            “What?” You inquire confused.
            “I feel really at ease this time around…” He comments.
            Something about that makes you smile, but before you respond, spikes shoot at you two. Before you can react, Zoro moves in front of you, enchanted blades easily knocking the spikes away. You look up at the manticore as it moves over the ledges of the crumbling interior.
           “Wow, that is a beautiful creature.” You breathe as it’s amber eyes stare you down.
           “Don’t look it in the eye! It’ll hypnotize you!” Zoro gasps, but it was too late, you were starting for the creature in a daze.
            “Pretty…” You breathe. It’s tail flicks at you and spikes shoot out at you but your flame blade deflects them instinctively. A pipe hits the Manticore in the head, knocking it out. “I want one!” You gasp, looking over at Sabo.
            “I don’t think one will fit in the room.” The blond hums, picking up his pipe.
            “Hey, worry about your own teammate, she’s mine.” Zoro frowns at him.
            “Roommate over rules teammate.” Sabo shoots back.
            “Alright, lets move on! You’re going down Roomie!” You stick your tongue out at Sabo.
             “We’ll see about that.” He winks before leading Drake away again. Zoro huffs and you lead him a different way, up some stairs as you search for a way up to the tower.
            “Do you think there’s a dragon around here?” You ask. No answer. You stop and look around. “I forgot to grab the rope.” You sigh carrying on alone. An infant crying makes you pausing on the next floor. “Hello?” You call following the sound until you see a bundled up baby.
             You peer at it warily, picking it up and looking around. Then you spot the mother troll ducking behind a pillar. “Oh no…. No… No, I do not want this baby! Take it back!” You follow her holding up the baby. The mother troll seems to argue and object. You knew they would push their babies onto humans but this was ridiculous- oh right. “Then I suppose I’ll cook him and turn into stew.” You hum.
          She takes the baby back swiftly starting to scold you in a language you didn’t understand. “Hey! This is why you don’t give babies to strangers! Don’t you scold me!” You shoot back agitated.
          “Um…. ___?” Zoro's voice makes you look over.
          “Right, I have a place to be.” You tell the troll before going to Zoro and taking the rope, leading him up the steps into the tower. You smile, finding the room filled with water, the monster clam sits in the center.
           “Nice.” Zoro rumbles. “I’ll get the pearl, cover me?” You nod in response, peering around carefully as he wades to the clam. Something glimmering catches your eye and you peer out of the window. Its looked like an egg of some sort, in another tower across the way.
          “Got it!” Zoro calls, swiftly coming back with a large pearl in his hand and a split monster clam behind him.
         “Great job… Um… Could you wait near this window?” You ask with a point. He looks at you confused but nods, doing so. You back up before running and diving out the window.
         “___!” Zoro gasps as you crash into the neighboring tower.
        “I’m good!” You call, climbing up to the window and easing in. You look around the room, there didn’t seem to be a way into the room besides the window, unless there was a hatch under the nest in the middle of the room. Your eyes glide to the egg, it shimmers like an opal and you recognize it’s shape. You kneel down, removing your jacket and wrapping it around the soccer ball sized egg before picking it up and taking it to the window.
          “___! The tower’s leaning!” Zoro calls out as you feel the floor shift. Cursing quietly, you back up before swiftly leaping out. The jump was too short. Zoro dives after you, arm coming around you as he slashes upwards with an enchanted sword. You both land the tower crashing down around you both.
          “Wow… I wasn’t expecting you to jump out after me.” You murmur blinking at him in surprise.
          “Of course I would. You’re my partner..” He gives a slight frown. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
          “I’m okay, thanks,” You smile and peek at the egg. “Lets get going.” You add, taking Zoro’s wrist and climbing over the tower remains, starting for the door. Sabo and Drake run up as you both reach the door. They looked tattered and bruised. “Did a building try to crush you too?” You ask.
          “No, more like ran into a cyclops, but we got his club,” Drake holds it up before all of you go out.
         “Well done both teams,” Mihawk praises, holding out a hand. “Your items.” He requests. Zoro places the pearl in his hand and it vanishes on contact. Sabo and Drake do the same with theirs.
         “Come on Sabo, lets get you cleaned up.” You chime practically dragging him down the hall.
         “Am I that dirty?” He questions in confusion.
         “Lets say yes.” You hum, tossing him a smile. He raises an eyebrow as you both reach the room in record time. You release his hand to cradle the egg, turning to him as he closes the door.
          “What do you have there?” He inquires.
          “I found something…. But when I saw it, I thought of you.” You murmur setting the egg on your bed and uncovering it. “It’s not a sapphire dragon, but… I know you’ll take care of it.” You smile at him. Sabo stares at the egg in shock.
          “You’re… Giving me a dragon…?” He whispers, looking at you.
         “Yeah, is that-“ He suddenly kisses you deeply and you freeze in surprise.
         “You’re amazing!” He gushes with a grin, “I need to get out the incubator!” He breathes swiftly getting out a contraption from the closet and setting up the incubator. You blink a few times, and shake your head before smiling a bit and watching him.
         “Dragon fanatic…”