Chapter 1: First Appearance
Chapter Text
Lets start off this story by saying, Zoro's an actual demon, but he doesn't want to let anyone know. The only thing that he remembers from his childhood is blood, death, violence and a few blurry faces. But it's all too quick for him to properly take in, so these memories are pushed to the back of his mind.
On his journey to become the world’s strongest swordsman, he meets two men that aren't afraid of him. He hasn't yet covered up his horns, tail or anything else for that matter, but the two don't seem to care at all. For once, Zoro feels like he's found someone that he can trust...
A few months later he finds himself tied up to a post in a marine base. He had met up with his old friend from back on the island he used to live on. His name was Saga, and he died as he lived, with a dream and free will. That’s what Zoro believes anyway….. Anyway, he managed to piss off some blonde headed bimbo with an ugly bowl cut. Making a quick and thoughtful decision, he decides to hide his demon features under a special type of haki that he seems to only possess. Well, that he knows of anyway.
As he waits, the nights are long and cold; the early mornings are almost as bad with the cool mist and weird raising temperatures, but he can at least say that he’s alive. At least the marines had the decency to place his bandanna on his head.... Just as he was deep in thought, a strange looking boy shows up out of nowhere and asks to join his crew. He has a red vest, blue rolled up pants, sandals, a straw hat and a stupid grin on his face. He's a pirate after all...
Zoro refuses at first, but upon seeing how far this boy is willing to go to make him join his crew, he agrees to join. This is after thinking everything through.
In the little boat that Luffy made it here on, they set sail away from the base. He waves a fair well to the girl, Rika, that helped him and gave him rice balls. He's glad that she didn't have to see his true self...or else he would've been mortified.
-
When starvation is finally too great for the 'captain' Luffy, he shoots himself into the air and gets stuck in a bird's mouth. "Idiot," the swordsman mutters under his breath as he races to catch up with the rubber man. Turning around in the small boat he notices an island, a sigh of relief fills his lungs as he stops rowing and ties the boat off at the dock. Making sure to lay low, he carefully sneaks around, checking every corner, road and alleyway. He pads down the road until he comes across a small white dog.
It barks.
He tilts his head at it.
The dog's staying still, unmoving. The former pirate hunter shrugs his shoulders and decides to pad off to find his 'captain'. He eventually comes across a group of miscreants whom call themselves the 'Buggy Pirates'. Whatever. Zoro isn't interested in them, all he wants to do is get his captain, and get out of there.
-
Shit goes down in the wrong direction and they end up fleeing the town with wounds and a large cement cage with Luffy in it.
This red head seems to be following them too.
"What's her deal?"
"That's Nami! She's going to be our navigator!" Luffy happily shouts, still in the cage. Zoro rolls his eyes and wearily presses on until he collapses near that white dog again.
Luffy tries to pet the dog, but it just ends up biting him.
Luffy sends the dog flying.
Still laying on the ground, going in and out of conciseness, Zoro faintly hears a man talking. His breathing picks up and he passes out.
When he wakes up it's due to a loud explosion. Grumbling, he lays flat on his back, suddenly, acutely aware of the flesh wound in his torso. He sits up rubbing his head as a faint voice calls out his name. "Zoro! Zo......" the voice seems to stop right in front of him. Another voice joins in but with a loud and shocking gasp.
Zoro lowers his hand up to eye level and looks on in horror.
His Haki wore off. He looks like a demon again.
The red head is stepping back and his captain in unmoving. "You're....you're an actual demon...." the girl mumbles out. "..the rumors are true..." she barely whispers out, but Zoro has a great sense of hearing. He heard. The swordsman sits in the pile of rumble, hurt by what he's shown them. Meaning his true form that is.
Luffy pads over and reaches out a hand. With his other hand he pushes up his straw hat with a large smile.
Slowly but carefully, Zoro reaches up and gets dragged up onto the shoulders of his captain. He ends up fainting again, but not before hearing the girl's voice mutter something unintelligible to his mind.
-
When he finally wakes up, he recognizes the swaying feeling he's felt before. Upon opening his eyes and slowly sitting up, the ones around him immediately stop their conversation. He wearily looks over to the two sitting on the opposite side of him. Nami is in her boat and Luffy is with Zoro in his boat.
Luffy is the first one to speak.
"So," he starts, "you're really a demon??" he asks with sparkling eyes, reaching over to get a better look at the green haired swordsman.
Zoro feels like he's died and gone to hell. No one has ever accepted him this quickly before; not even Johnny or Yosaku at first. It took them a little while to get used to the thought....
He stares on in shock.
"Zoro, right?" the girl asks.
He nods.
"We're," she gestures to both Luffy and herself, "not afraid of you," she utters in a shaky voice. "It's just....a little shocking," she admits with a half fake smile.
He nods again, skeptical of the statement.
"Can I touch your horns?! They look so-"
Luffy is struck on the head by the red head. "Knock it off, will ya?!" she shouts in an angry tone. Zoro narrows his eyes at the bickering bunch. "Will you at least say something?" she offers.
The former pirate hunter goes to open his mouth, but remembering that he has sharp teeth, instantly closes it. He doesn't want them to be even more freaked out then they clearly already are. He covers his mouth and starts to speak, "I don't wanna freak you-"
"Too late for that!" the girl shouts.
"Show us!" Luffy demands with fists held high. Zoro sighs and lowers his hand to his lap, allowing for his teeth to show. "Why aren't you scared of me? Whomever I've come across always seems to freak out even if it's just one glance," he admits, tilting his head to the side.
"Can you blame them?? Look at you!" the navigator gestures to him.
Zoro rolls his eyes.
"Nami, rude! He looks very cool!" Luffy shouts trying to touch his horns again. Nami smacks him away.
She sighs.
"Look," she starts, "your captain is trying to say that he trusts you. I think... Nonetheless, you don't exactly seem like the type of person everyone's trying to make you out to be," she admits.
"Still, I can't just go walking around like this. It- scares people, and personally, I don't like being called a 'freak' or a 'monster' every time. You tell no one of this." He stares at both of them with a serious look.
They nod and he uses his haki to hide his demon form once again. They ask about how he's able to hide it so easily and other stuff of that sort, but he's not up for conversion; so he closes his eyes and let's his mind wander as he drifts off.
—
It's been around two weeks since they've come across anything remotely interesting. That is until an island comes into view. On the island is a few dozen people who don't particularly mind pirates, but when they meet this long nosed weirdo, Zoro finds himself wandering off. No offense to the longed nose guy, he just doesn't like how much this guy talks....
The time to leave the island comes quickly, the long nosed guy tags along as they get a ship with a ram's head at the front.
Weird
They're back on the open sea again, but this time on a bigger ship.
Zoro tries his best to train everyday he can. Without a cook on the ship, everyone relayed on the long nosed man by the name of Usopp to cook and make food for them. The man was a decent enough cook, but the swordsman also wanted to help. It's not the Usopp's cooking was terrible by any means, he just likes food made a certain way in some cases. A little bit picky, but otherwise Zoro's okay with most foods.
—
When they finally stop again, it's at a restaurant this time.
How convenient....
They enter through the front door, unlike their captain who flung himself through the roof! "Welcome!" a cheery voice welcomes them inside and over to their seats. There's a ton of people around, Zoro chooses to not allow his guard to falter. Too many people around to allow that do happen again.
A blonde male noodles his way over from the other side of the restaurant and greets the red head with a flower in his hand, extending it out to her.
She smiles and politely takes it from his hand. "A beautiful flower for a beautiful-"
"Sanji!"
The blonde, now known as Sanji, is interrupted. He straightens himself out and sighs, dropping his lovey-dovey act.
A booming voice calls out from the back. The blonde sighs and straightens up.
"My apologies, but I must be going," he politely excused himself from the group and pads to the back where he disappears from view.
Zoro rolls his eyes.
Nami notices.
"What?~" she coos with a teasing smirk.
"What do you want?" he growls.
"Are you sad that you didn't get one?~" she teases.
"Tch, now why would I of all people, want a flower?"
She smirks evilly, "oh…no reason. I just seen you staring at him is all~"
Usopp now joins in.
"You like guys?" the long nose asks.
Zoro sighs and slightly nods.
"Wow, didn't really see that coming," Usopp admits, digging into the rest of his food.
"I'm just not interested in women romantically is al- why the hell am I telling you this??" he sputters, waving a hand in the air.
The other two chuckle.
"It doesn't matter if Zoro likes guys. He's still Nakama!" their captain giggles behind them. He's wearing an apron. "Why're you dressed like that?" Nami questions his fashion choice. "Shishishi," he giggles, "I have to work off a debt," he curiously admits. He isn't really sure what it means, but whatever I guess.
The other three sigh and drop their head's to hang low.
At the end of their little adventure here, they end up getting a cook and Zoro ends up hurt, again. He's been defeated by a warlord whom calls himself Dracule Mihawk, the strongest swordsman in the world. Finally, a challenging opponent.... He's looking forward to meeting up with the man again, but he needs to train harder first. But that is the least of his concerns, at the moment he's tied up on a small boat feeling rather ill fitted. The large wound in his chest feels uncomfortable.
He's not a doctor, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't know how to sew. He had carefully stitched himself up to the best of his abilities with the help of his two friends, Johnny and Yasoru. Anyway, going back to the matter at hand.
The redhead stole their boat and took off with all of their treasure. Zoro's been tied to the mast of the boat slipping in and out of consciousness. When he wakes up, he's taken in by a group of odd looking people?
No
Fish people?
His head spins to many thoughts. "We're the fishmen of the Arlong Pirates," a fishman with large pink lips, dirty blonde dreds and a blue vest speaks way too enthusiastically. Zoro scoffs and then feels himself being dragged off to god knows where.
Before he can fully get dragged off, he manages to knock out the large fishman with the blonde dreads.
Obtaining a new shirt, he manages to sneak around a town he happened upon.
Looking around, a figure suddenly stands before him. He gulps. A fishman with six arms, white spiky hair, a yellow and red jumper on and an odd looking tattoo on his forehead crosses his arms in front of the green haired swordsman.
This fishman isn't the brightest.
Zoro manages to trick the fishman into allowing his mind to wander off. The swordsman sneaks off from view only to get caught once more. In the grasp of yet another fishman, he feels his large chest wound opening slightly. He doesn't know how much time has passed since being here, but he knows he needs to evade the area, immediately.
Nami tricks him.
She's working with the Arlong Pirates. He feels light headed, but never falls or allows himself to fall unconscious. For a split second, staring into the face of the long nosed captain, he flashes a demonic smile. Arlong drops Zoro and he pushes himself off from the end of the water, away from the pirates, away from the trickster....
He ends up passing out once he's on the shore.
When he wakes up again, he's in a bed. Not on the ground where the men were supposed to sleep, but an actual bed. Groaning he tries to sit up, but he can't. The wound stings with agony. 'Need to get stronger. Can't falter now,' he reminds himself of what he has to do in order to stay strong...
Zoro doesn't admit to the redhead or to long nose that he has a crush of the blonde, that's only because he doesn't. Yes, the blonde cook, by the name of Sanji, is quite attractive, but the guy's way into women. He treats them like goddesses above trash; trash being the rest of the crew, mainly being men in general. The blonde treats his male crew mates like shit, but his cooking is one for the books.
Zoro still occasionally cooks for himself from time to time, but the new cook usually ends up doing all the work.
An island suddenly appears. Zoro calls down to the crew, "there's an island up ahead!" Usopp nods and gets trampled by Luffy before he can get out of the way. Zoro snickers and hops down to help the sniper up.
When they get off of the ship, they go their separate ways.
Zoro pads into a swords shop.
"Welcome," the older man greets with a smile. Zoro nods and turns his attention to the barrels of swords behind him. Carefully looking, his fingers stop on a red hilt. He smirks and takes it out of the barrel. "I wouldn't take that one if I were you," the older clerk explains.
The green haired swordsman turns around.
"Why not?" he asks.
"It's cursed."
"Interesting..." Zoro hums.
This seems to spark something within the young swordsman. Just as he's about to take the saya off of the blade, the door to the shop opens and in walks a navy blue haired female with red glasses. Zoro almost drops the sword in his hands. 'She looks exactly like her...' he thinks to himself as he slowly returns his gaze to the sword in his hands.
"You're-" her voice rings out in the shop for a split second before she cuts herself off to stare at the green haired man in front of her.
"Hum?" he hums, turning his head to the right to look at her.
"A pirate hunter," she murmurs.
"The sword has a name, you know," the clerk offers. Zoro turns his attention back to the clerk of the shop.
Zoro continues to stare down the man with a cold look until he answers. "It's name is Sandai Kitetsu."
Finding that this particular sword catches his interest, Zoro decides to challenge the sword to see if it would pick him. He unsheathes the sword and throws the blade in the air. As the katana whips down, it misses his arm and doesn't cut him. Smirking, he takes Sandai Kitetsu from where it's stuck in the wooden floor and places it back in its sheath. He finds another sword and takes them both up to the front counter to pay. He thanks the man and the female swordsman follows him. A sudden explosion causes Zoro to jump a little. It was sudden, so it startled him. The navy blue haired lady's glasses get knocked off of her face, Zoro picks them up and is about to hand them back to her when she mentions that she's here on a marine mission. He crushes them in his hand. She reminds him too much of his deceased best friend, Kuina.
The green haired swordsman takes off running towards the bay back to the Going Merry, but he gets turned around and ends up running past it. Suddenly coming to a halt, he carefully backtracks and boards the ship. When he settles on board, he sees his captain in a bit of a spacey mood. The boy looks tired.
"Achoo!" the redhead sneezes almost messing up the drawing of a map she's taking the time to create. Inside her room, she sits back for a second to collect herself.
A shiver runs down her arms and legs, but she chooses to ignore it. After all, she is going to make a map of the entire world. She can't stop writing now....
*THUD*
A noise comes from inside of the Going Merry. The cook is the first one to rush past everyone, stepping on them as he vaults over one and lands on another. He busts down the small room door to find the redhead on the ground. "Nami-swan!" he sings out, "are you-" He stops himself only to drop to the ground and hold Nami's head. "She has a fever," he mutters under his breath. Usopp steps forward and places a hand on the cook's shoulder.
"We should get her into-" Usopp tries speaking.
"Nami!" a loud voice calls out.
"Here we go again..." the sniper sighs.
They all find themselves groaning.
"What happened?!" Luffy shouts, busting down the door practically, just like Sanji did just moments before. He quickly pads over to the bed, but isn't allowed closer due to that damn cook's orders.
Ugh
Zoro's starting to get a headache from the guy.
"She's sick, Luffy," Zoro explains with a hand over his face. He squints his eyes.
The captain nods, taking a step back. The blonde lets his arm lower as the loud and rambunctious boy seems to calm down.
They quickly make it a point to find a doctor.
As they search the sea, her condition only gets worse. Luffy tries his best to cheer her up. Zoro walks into the room to check on her only to find their captain wearing poorly out on makeup and making some odd funny face? He isn't really sure what to call that.
',..Scary...' Zoro thinks, taking a slight step back.
As the other two aren't present, he allows some of his Haki to slip to relax itself. He usually does this at night, so he isn't using it all the time. Lately it's been hard to keep up his Haki all day, he thinks it's from the wound that's still healing.
Sigh
Zoro sits down against the wall with his arms in his lap, across from Luffy and Nami. Closing his eyes, he tilts his head back as it gently hits the wooden wall behind him.
A low shuffling can be heard in the quiet room. It almost sounds like it's coming towards him. Zoro's acutely aware of how close his captain is now. He can sense his presence's just right in front of him.
"Zoro," a low voice calls out. "You can trust the two others. They'd accept-"
"No."
"Why not??" Luffy huffs, seemingly annoyed.
"Because."
"Tell them," he demands.
"No."
"Zoro-"
Zoro opens his eyes only to be met with the same kind of face he'd seen earlier. "Luffy. No. I'm not gonna keep telling you again. No means no," Zoro explains. Using his Haki once more, he hides everything that makes him a demon. It's hard to keep up using daily, right now, but it's possible. It also helps with training in some ways. Mainly with Haki control and seeing how much he can use.
—
Zoro's on watch that night, like he is most nights. He sits in the small crow's nest with a blanket wrapped around himself, knees up close to his chest and back against the inner part of the crow's nest. He allows for his eyes, teeth and nails to show. Small features not noticeable right away. He can tell that the others aren't like him. Their power usage is what he means. They don't seem to use Haki like he does...
He slowly drifts off, but not before putting his features away.
—
The morning light hits his face, spilling over the top of the wooden walls. 'Shit! When did I-' he thinks, panicking to himself. He quickly stands up....maybe that was a bad idea....
His legs suddenly feel a little wobbly. The light in his vision is blocked out for a few seconds, but he eventually gains his sight back.
'An island?' the swordsman wonders, climbing down to the deck. It's cold and snowy; something he hadn't noticed from waking up earlier. When Zoro looks around, he calls out to whomever.
No response
"Luffy! Usopp!....hmm," he hums, thinking of where they could've gone.
He ends up shrugging it off and taking off to look for them. Getting turned around again and again, he shivers in the snow. 'When did it get so cold out?.......Right, taking my clothes off to train maybe wasn't the best idea...' he thinks.
When he finally sees someone, it's-
"The hell are you thinking Moss-for-brains?!" a blonde cook treads through the deep snow to meet him. He shivers and squints his eyes at the fuming blonde in front of him. "Got turned around," Zoro admits quietly.
"Whatever. Here."
The cook hands him his jacket and his boots that he left behind somewhere along the way.
The swordsman nods and quickly puts the materials on.
Everyone ends up meeting up again. Luffy and the cook end up taking Nami up to the doctor's place. Zoro, whilst holding himself, looks up at the very tall and large cone shaped mountain. A long and cold chill runs through his body the second they leave. A large freezing cold gust of wind makes its way into the village. Zoro tries to enter a hut that was leant to them, literally right in front of him, but he misses it and keeps on walking passed it. Usopp drags him in by the collar and shuts the door. "...idiot..." the sniper mutters.
They're trying to keep warm. So Zoro being a directionless idiot isn't helping.
From the outside, the hut looks like a giant cylinder. Well, if you were guessing the same thing as me, then you'd be correct. The inside is also a cylinder shape. There's long couches to their left and right mounted to the wall, hardwood flooring with carpets overtop, some blankets and extra supplies tucked away on a back shelf on the back wall and a metal furnace looking thing in the middle of the room. The smoke goes from the center of the furnace, out throughout a long metal pipe protruding from the top of the furnace and out through the ceiling.
Zoro shivers again. The wind hits his back and travels down his spine. He shoves them both in, closing the door as soon as possible.
Usopp smirks.
The sniper starts up the furnace and they both grab blankets to wrap themselves in while they wait for the place to warm up.
Usopp eventually ends up shedding a layer of clothing as he finally warms up, but not Zoro. He's still shivering under his coat, subtlety though. Although his knees are tucked up to his chest, keeping in some heat, it's still really cold for him, even if the hut has warmed up more.... He doesn't want to worry their sniper over something that was his fault to begin with. Usopp is a caring guy, in his own way, so he makes sure not to over step with him and his kindness. "Zoro," a voice breaks through the howling winds outside and through the crackling of the fire in the furnace.
The swordsman looks up with a cold, red nose and tired eyes.
"You still cold?" Usopp wonders with a smile.
"Heh, n-not really, no. I'm fine," he lies through an obvious lie. Usopp can surely tell if someone's lying, he does it so often that it's hard to miss it. Plus, the green haired swordsman's words are a bit shaky.
Sigh
"Seriously, you're a bad lier," Usopp chuckles, padding over to give him an extra blanket. Zoro makes a sound of disbelief, but ultimately thanks the sniper for the blanket. Usopp doesn't go back to his side of the room, he ends up sitting near the green haired swordsman. Zoro on the other hand shoves his face in the blanket and lets out the shivers he's been holding in for quite some time. With a sigh of frustration, mind you.
Usopp laughs. He thinks that Zoro, the scary muscular crew mate he knows and loves, now, looks like a cold cat shoving their face into the warmness of the blanket.
"Whamf sou unny?" Zoro mumbles with his face still pushed into the blanket.
Usopp laughs even harder.
Taking his head out of the blanket, he glares up at the sniper. "You're not used to the cold , are you?" the sniper asks wearily wiping a few tears out of his eyes.
The swordsman shakes his head, turning back to the warm furnace in front of them. He eye lids become a little heavier, but he doesn't yet sleep. Usopp leans back on his hands and stares up. "I used to be like that. It doesn't bother me so much anymore, just got used to it I suppose," he shrugs with a smirk.
The wind howls outside as the storm worsens. Something cracks outside, making them both jump a little. Zoro closes his eyes once more and turns his attention to the warm, crackling fire in front of him.
Zoro always hated storms, but he can't show any sign of weakness, even if it's just Usopp here with him. It's not that he doesn't trust his crew mates, he does, but that's not the problem. If he gets too comfortable with them, he might end up showing them something they might not wanna see, or maybe learn something about him that never should've gotten out. He'll just have to lay low for the time being.
Usopp looks down at Zoro and back up to the window in front of him. He stares at the snowy winds outside. "You know," he starts, "if you want, you can sleep for a little bit. You look tired."
Zoro doesn't protest. He soon falls asleep sitting up.
'How does he even do that??' the sniper wonders.
—
After learning that an avalanche took out his crew mates and captain, through a villager who seen the avalanche happen, he can't help but think about what other troubles they'd get into.... The cook had been knocked unconscious for the time being and Luffy had taken both of them up the side of the mountain.
Crazy
His captain is crazy. But he likes a little excitement and adventure in his life or else it gets boring.
—
Once everyone's healed up, they sled off from the large mountain with a reindeer with a blue nose. Luffy says his name is Chopper.
Cute
Once they get to the ship, a pink hew presents itself. Zoro looks on in amazement at the oddly shaped mountain from before turning into something of a blossom tree. He actually smiles as he looks on at the beauty. He notices that Chopper's smiling and crying. "Didn't know you could smile, Mossy," the cook speaks up, admitting. He takes a drag of his cigarette and looks up at the beautiful pink hew.
"Didn't know you could be such a drama Queen, but here we are-"
"What did you call me??" the blonde growls, pulling Zoro closer to his face.
"You heard me," Zoro growls back.
"You wanna go??" the cook offers with a hint of excitement in his visible eye. Zoro can faintly make out a second eye hidden behind the blonde's shiny hair. He wants to accept the cook's challenge, but he isn't really up for something like that right now.
He tugs at his collar until the cook lets go.
He waves a hand and walks away from the cook, leaving the man to grumble under his breath. When Zoro finds himself in the crow's nest that night, he can't help but think about how close he was to the blonde cook. His face heats up a little, but soon cools off as he reminds himself of who the cook is. There's no way in hell that he would ever go for someone like him. He sighs and wraps himself tighter in the blanket. 'He is pretty cute though- Idiot. Stop thinking about him! Go do what you came up here for...' He yells at himself internally.
—
Finally!
They've reached the grand line. As their ship goes up the side of the large cliff, Zoro feels himself sliding a little. He grabs onto something and holds tightly as the ship goes higher and higher. The small reindeer holds onto the swordsman's leg as they go barreling up. Suddenly it drops and sharp rocks blind their way. The water sloshes from side to side as they go barreling forward- meaning downwards.
Zoro lands on the mast with a loud
*THUMP*
that makes him groan out in pain.
He lets out a groan of pain as he feels something being crushed. Suddenly the small reindeer comes flying towards him. Quickly, he catches the reindeer. "Th-th-th-th-thanks Z-Z-Z-Zoro," Chopper sputters out, shaking from fear as he tries his best to hold onto the muscular arm.
The cook and the navigator come flying towards them next.
It knocks them off the mast and to the bow's railing. They all scream in terror as a very large rock comes into view. Luffy holds tight and steers the ship out of its path. It's absolutely pure luck that they managed to live from that.
—
Relaxing, Zoro slumps to the deck floor. Chopper is now holding onto the swordsman's leg as he shakes uncontrollably. Zoro wants to comfort the small reindeer, so he pats Chopper on his head. The small reindeer looks up to the swordsman and tearfully runs in for a hug. Zoro grabs the small hat and they sit there while Chopper fearfully sobs into Zoro's chest.
While he waits for the reindeer to let go, Zoro looks around.
Luffy is holding onto both Nami and the cook. But there's something odd about this situation that doesn't exactly sit right with him.... Luffy seems to be holding onto the cook a lot tighter then the navigator.
Weird
'This crew is getting weirder,' Zoro complains in his head still gently patting Chopper on the head.
Usopp pads by and helps the two off of the floor. First Chopper and then Zoro.
—
They end up meeting a very large blue whale, which accidentally swallows their ship along with them too. Inside the whale sits a man on a beach in a chair, whom looks like a bird. There's water around and a small island, where the man is sitting. The man gets everyone riled up, but soon everyone calms down after hearing the old man's story.
Luffy laughs and holds his hat on his head.
A sudden disturbance causes everyone to loose balance. They find their way outside of the whale and spot a group of two, a male with light brown hair and a crown and a female with blue hair in a ponytail, are caught by Luffy. "I'm Ms. Wednesday," the girl starts. Zoro stops listening after that. Something doesn't entirely sit right with him about these two. The swordsman keeps a close eye on the two as they travel in the direction of some island called Alabasta, but before stopping there, a different island comes into view.
"It looks like a cactus," Zoro mumbles.
"Speak up, Marimo!"
"Didn't say anything-"
"You're an even worse lier then Usopp!" the cook shouts, gesturing to the long nosed sniper.
Usopp takes offense and decides to pad his way over, but before doing so, he turns around and changes his mind after seeing how scary the blonde looks right now. 'Too scary!' he thinks, speeding away from the two scary monsters on the ship.
—
On the island they get separated, again....
Sigh
Zoro finds himself on top of a large cactus? No, it's an oddly shaped mountain with crosses on them. 'How the hell did I get up here? I was just drinking with the witch...' he thinks, scratching his head. "Get down here, Pirate Hunter Zoro!" a voice shouts out to him.
Suddenly, he's surrounded.
Thinking quickly, he ends up fighting a few of them and running away only to end up on the top of one of the building's. A man with an oddly shaped haircut, shouts, "you weren't supposed to wake up! How're you even awake right now? You drank so much alcohol.." the man accuses. Zoro shrugs. "Alcohol doesn't really affect me."
"Never mind about that!" the man shouts again.
"Get him!" another man shouts.
"Huh?"
They blink and Zoro's gone. Just, completely and utterly gone from the rooftop. The towns people look around only to find him standing in the middle of them, looking up at the rooftop too. They're startled. Jumping back in horror, they gasp. The green haired swordsman chuckles and unsheathes Wado and Sandai. A bit of his demon Ora escapes him, but he doesn't entirely seem to notice at the time.
—
Sigh
The crew had had enough of this island. They get back onto the ship and take off for the island Alabasta without the man with the crown. The blue haired girl scoffs. She then introduces her to the crew as a princess from Alabasta named Vivi, and what her mission is. They all seem to understand. Zoro notices Nami is overly understanding and is listening intently to the girl with big sparkling eyes. He smirks to himself.
"Something funny, Marimo?"
"Again with you?!"
They begin fighting.
—
At Alabasta, they get change into long robe-like attire. It helps keep the sun off of them, but it's eerily, excruciatingly hot... Luffy makes some friends with a group of turtle seal lion things? They seem cute and fun. Zoro smiles at them and how his captain is trying to track them to fight. Once passed them, they enter the dreadful desert. It takes them far too long to cross it, but once they get to where they need to be, everyone seems to break off a little. Mainly Zoro.
The swordsman is stopped by the cook dragging him by the collar of his clothing over to the rest of them.
"...rude..." Zoro mumbles.
"What was that?" the cook retorts.
"Nothing."
The cook takes a drag of his cigarette and places his hands into his pockets. Vivi talks about what their plan is and what they should do. Luffy listens, understanding some, but knowing Luffy, he isn't going to follow what he's being told. Like he's done many times, 'it's my way or the highway'. Whoops, wrong thing. 'I don't listen to anyone! I only take orders from me!!' Is his main motto.
—
Before ever being too long in the desert county, the group meets up with a black haired male. Luffy introduces his older brother, Ace to them.
Zoro instantly takes notice and kind of ends up staring a little.
The man is cute, but hot, has freckles, nice fluffy hair and is very much Zoro's type, but going back on what Luffy said about this man being his brother. He knows he's off limits. With a sad sigh, he reluctantly continues his journey with his Nakama. Spending time with Ace really shows you how different yet similar the brothers really are.
Ace is kind hearted, strong and helpful, while Luffy is....enthusiastic, loud and not always the politest person you could ever meet.
The green haired swordsman knows that Ace is off limits, but he can't help but catch himself staring from time to time. He doesn't know if Ace has noticed yet....if he did, would he've said anything? Does he swing that way? 'No, don't think things like that. He's your captain's brother for crying out loud. You can't just up and date him....Would it make Luffy mad? What would he think if I suddenly hooked up with his brother?' Many thoughts fill the swordsman's head as he waits in the shade to cool off.
Zoro guesses that he's been staring off at nothings for a long while now. So, when a certain someone walks over, he quickly snaps out of his trance and feels his heart beating like crazy.
"You alright? You've been staring off for quite sometime," Ace jokes with a warm, inviting smile. The man leans back on the rock that Zoro's been leaning on.
Zoro feels his face heating up. Maybe it's just the desert heat? or maybe it's because he's alone with the hottest person to ever cross his vision? Who knows...
"Um, I'm just- thinking is all..." he trails off, not being able to make eye contact with the man. Ace notices and turns his attention forward. "You know," he starts, "when Luffy and I were younger, we'd dream of sailing the world with our own crew's," Ace admits. Zoro looks up to fixate his gaze at the freckled man. "Of course, Luffy being Luffy always wanted me to be on his crew, but...to be honest. I don't think I would've. He's my brother and all, but I want him to have his own adventures, without me..." The last part barely an audible whisper.
Zoro heard.
He's a little shocked that Ace would bring this up to him if all people, but he isn't complaining by any means. 'What does he mean by "without me"? Did something happen between them?- No, I'm overthinking it. Maybe he just wants Luffy to experience things without him around.' Zoro comes to a conclusion in his head.
"I heard you were the first person he seeked out!" Ace cheerfully states, turning to face the green haired swordsman with his eyes closed, quickly changing the topic.
This makes Zoro blush.
"Come here. Stay in the shade for a little bit at least," the freckled man offers, taking the green haired swordsman's hand and pulling him, gently, into the cool shade behind a large rock, out of view of most. Once he realizes how soft, yet firm the freckled man's hands are, he tungs his hand away. Ace makes an amused sound. "You seem very observant in some fields, but," his voice goes lower and he leans in to Zoro's ear, "did you really think I wouldn't notice you staring at me all day?~" he teases into the swordsman's ear with a low and utterly hot chuckle at the end.
Backing away, Ace smiles and pats Zoro on the head before leaving to join his brother and the others.
Zoro cups a hand to his ear and feels his heart beating a mile a second. 'What just happened?' He's utterly stunned at the events that just took place. He doesn't know how to react...
—
A little while later, the crew splits off from Luffy's brother, Ace. They hate to see him go and all, but apparently Ace has somewhere to be and some stuff to take care of. Zoro feels his heart slightly breaking as he watches the freckled man walking in the other direction they were needing to go.
As they stray further and further from the man, Zoro feels kinda sad....
He doesn't show it of course, but he can't help but feel it. He isn't one for emotions either, but sometimes certain people can bring them out, emotions he means. Sometimes he's referred to as a hollow shell of a man by on lookers because he doesn't know how to express emotions properly. More like he was never taught about feeling emotions.
Anyway, as they travel the desert, Zoro's mind wanders for a split second. But a second in his world is half an hour outside of it. Lol.
He blinks and there's nothing but sand.
"Huh?"
He looks around to see no one in sight. He sighs, "they must've gotten lost.." he comes up with an excuse for whatever the hell just happened in whatever amount of time he'd been wandering out here for. As he nears a drop off, he slips and goes tumbling down, feet over his head as he rolls further and further down.
"Oomf-"
He lands on the hot sand, face first, with a
*THUD*
sound.
He groans and shakes himself off as he sits up, straightening himself with a crack of his back. Touching his head he feels another hand there. Sheer panic fills his thoughts. Startled, he quickly grabs the hand and tries to pull it down whatever or whomever it is, but he ends up failing. His plan fails and he ends up getting pulled up instead. He's now face to face with Luffy's brother, whom is giving him an odd look. "What're you doing out here? I thought you were with Luffy?"
'Oh great. At least it's just him...' Zoro thinks, trying to calm his heart rate down from the scare he just received.
"Geez, way to give a guy a heart attack. I uh," he clears his throat and ends up sighing in defeat, "I might've gotten....a little....lost," he sheepishly admits with an embarrassed smile. Ace smiles back and lets go of Zoro's hand. "Sorry bout that, didn't mean to scare you. Just, when I seen you go over the sand dune-" He chuckles a little. "You worried me a little." Zoro flushes a little. "Yeah….me too." He looks up to the sun and squints an eye closed. "This place is a little bit hard to navigate," Ace admits, tilting his head back down before rubbing the back of his neck in a defensive matter.
'You too? Really?' the green haired swordsman reluctantly thinks in disbelief.
Ace places a hand on his hip for a split second. "We should try to find the way back to them, huh?" the freckled man asks, chuckling. "Yeah....." the green haired swordsman trails off. Ace smiles and takes the lead, making sure to not let the green haired swordsman out of his sight. He knows from spending a little amount of time with the group that Zoro tends to wander off; getting aimlessly lost in the process. He finds it kind of cute in a way, just how he acts afterwards. Ace smiles at the thought.
—
After getting practically nowhere, they finally end up finding a place to rest in the shade. A large rock with an overhang is the only source of shade for seems like miles in the desert in every direction. The heat doesn't bother Ace, it's just the thirst that gets him. Luckily he has some water left. Once both of them are under the shade, Zoro's legs give out and he's left slightly shaking under the cool shade. Ace notices and sits down himself, placing his head back on the cool rocks behind him. The freckled man lets out a sigh of relief as the coolness of the shade begins to take effect. Yet again, the heat doesn't bother him, but it is nice to get out of the blistering sun for awhile.
After a few moments pass, Ace looks over to Zoro. The green haired swordsman is now resting against the rock, sitting upright.
'He looks like he's gonna faint,' Ace thinks, scooting himself closer.
Zoro notices this and slightly scoots himself away.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing."
Ace smiles, "then why move away from me?"
"..."
"Zoro," Ace says in a challenging tone.
The name rolls nicely off of the freckled man's tongue nicely. Zoro finds himself sighing. "I'm just not sure you wanna be around me right now...." he mutters, keeping his head turned in the other direction. Ace tilts his head to a side and wonders. "What do you mean?"
"....I don't want to scare you...."
The words cause Ace to chuckle. Zoro reluctantly keeps his head turned away.
"I've seen a lot of things in my life out on the open sea, Zoro. I'm not scared of you," the freckled man reassures. Ace brings a knee up to relax his arm on while the other stays straightened out on the cool sand below. Zoro straightens up and turns his head to face in the man's direction. His eyes, the white part replaced with a black and the dead grey of his iris is now replaced with a purple, his teeth much sharper and his nails much longer.
You see, ever since being with Ace, he's tried his best to keep his Haki under control, but traveling under the hot sun must've worn him down much more then he thought and also the fact that his large torso wound hasn’t completely healed yet.
"You..." the freckled man starts.
"I'm a demon, if you were going to say...." Zoro trails off, evidently cutting himself off and bringing his knees up to his chest.
Ace suddenly sits on his knees and looks at Zoro, waiting.
"Can I see the full you, please? I know that must be a lot to ask of someone you don't yet fully know and all, but....I just wanna see you for who you really are," Ace explains in kind. The man is so polite, a polar opposite of his brother, mind you. Zoro finally decides to stop using his Haki once again. His horns, tails and wing pop o-.....wings?!
Zoro pushes himself away from the rock and into the sun a little, trying his best to look back at them, but he just ends up going in circles like a dog chasing it's own tail.
Ace grabs Zoro's shoulders tightly, wanting him to stop spinning around in circles, and squeezes them tightly to get his attention.
The swordsman stops and stares, just blinking at the freckled man in front of him.
"Breathe."
A single words is all it really takes.
—
When Zoro is calmer, they move back into the shade once more. Ace speaks up. "Tell me the truth. Don’t to lie to me..... How did this happen? Is this a devil fruit?" the freckled boy wonders slightly tilting his head to the side. "No, I'm not a devil fruit user. This......this is all, me...." the swordsman trails off, avoiding the other's gaze. "Really?.......This is amazing. You're an actual demon??" Ace kind of asks in amazement. He trails his fingers up to Zoro's face to get a better look at everything going on with the green haired swordsman.
After the freckled man is finished inspecting Zoro's face, he bites his lip and looks back in Zoro's eyes with a lustful look. Something Zoro's was never expecting to happen.
"You know," he starts, "you're really attractive, and quite adorable if I do say so myself." The freckled man pulls the swordsman closer to him via tilting his chin up to look at freckled man. Ace smirks and licks his lips.
Zoro blushes, feeling rather embarrassed at being called 'adorable'.
"Can I kiss you?" Ace wonders, lifting Zoro's chin more to make him look him in the eyes. Zoro feels like his heart's stopped and exited his body. He suddenly can't find the words to speak, but he ends up nodding in the end. The swordsman closes his eyes as Ace leans in, kissing him gently at first. The kiss suddenly becomes more desperate and they're soon grabbing at each other's clothing and hair. Zoro gently digs his nails into the skin of the other on accident.
Ace ends up pinning Zoro to the sand as he proclaims dominance via pinning the green haired swordsman's hands above his head and sitting on his lap.
Zoro's never had an experience such as this before. Yes, he's had sex with women before, but only cause they wanted to, not because he wanted to.
Zoro's got his eyes closed as they continue to explore each other's mouths. Ace trails his finger along the swordsman's side, touching each rib as he holds into the other man's hands with his other hand. When the swordsman bucks his hips, Ace rolls his in response making the green haired swordsman lightly moan into their mouths. Ace is pleased and continues to go over each sensitive part in the green haired swordsman's mouth.
The freckled man pulls back from the kiss and smirks down, panting like a dog in heat at Zoro.
Zoro pants as he stares up at the man with half closed lids. 'Sexy motherfucker. Zoro, why do you do this to me?~' Ace thinks, blushing at the sight below him.
Ace tilts his head back down.
"If you're worried about me judging you for how you look, you need not to worry," the freckled man leans down next to the swordsman's ear and whispers, "I honestly think you're really sexy like this. Laying below me panting like dog in heat as you roll your hips just right." He means. Zoro blushes even more. "God, I wanna make you mine." It sounds like a coo in his ear, but really it was a growl. Licking the top of the swordsman's ear down to the earrings makes the man below him squirm a little. Zoro feels a hot serge forming down there as the freckled man digs his fingers into Zoro's waist.
"Can I take this further?" the freckled man asks, licking his lips, hungrily looking down at his meal, ready to devour him.
The swordsman nods in somewhat of a trance of sorts.
Ace practically rips off Zoro's short pants, exposing his penis to the elements and to his captain's brother for a matter of fact. The freckled man spits in his hand. Ace takes no time in crawling up to Zoro's face. He deeply kisses the swordsman, distracting him from the hand that's snaking it's way to the other's hardened member.
A light gasp comes from the man under him when he grips it and gently starts stroking it. With the little lubricant they have, it was a bit difficult pumping Zoro hardened penis.
Ace, feeling satisfied enough, doesn't allow the man to release quite yet. He straddles the swordsman's upper body. "I know you like to have large objects in your mouth," Ace seductively calls out.
Zoro feels his heart beating faster and harder in his chest. Soon, that won't be the only thing that going fast and hard. ;)
"I want you to try something a little different~ Think you can manage?" the freckled man challenges. Zoro accepts with a nod and takes the freckled man's length into his mouth. He's almost completely forgotten about his appearance, his wings, horns and everything... Ace is really distracting him from all of that.
The freckled man rolls his head back as the warm, wet feeling envelopes his erect penis. While the swordsman's busy, Ace gathers enough saliva on his fingers and reaches back with a hand. "Now," he starts, "this is gonna feel a little bit weird at first, but trust me. It'll feel amazing soon," the freckled man reassures as he sticks two fingers into the swordsman's hole as he winks. Zoro closes his eyes and focuses on the task at hand- more like his mouth. Zoro is trying his best as to not gag. He doesn't really have a gag reflex, but it's still there.... He's just not exactly used to having something this big in his mouth. ;)
"Mmhg," Zoro moans.
Ace thinks that the green haired swordsman is stretched out enough, so he pulls out his fingers. He caresses the man's face as he takes his penis out of the green haired swordsman's mouth, being careful as to watch out for the teeth. The freckled man then inches his way back to the swordsman's legs, spreading them apart via his own legs and hands.
"Ready?" Ace asks breathless looking up to meet Zoro's black and purple eyes. 'Beautiful,' Ace thinks.
Zoro nods and throws his head back at the freckled man enters him rather quickly. Zoro yelps out as he digs his nails into the freckled man's back. Ace winces, but allows it to happen. He knows that he's getting desperate for friction, so in a way, he feels like he deserves it.
"Are you alright, cutie?~" Ace coos.
"I- I'm not cute. I'm-"
"Hot~" Ace moan's out in a very seductive manor.
Zoro doesn't have anytime to respond before he's kissed on the lips again. Zoro pulls away, "move," he demands. Ace smirks and bucks his hips just once to get a reaction. The swordsman makes a small expression, so he does it again until he's going at a steady rhythm now. Zoro's breathing picks up as he tries to hold back his light moans and panting breath. Ace notices and continues to fuck him, going faster and faster with each thrust.
"Ahngh!~" Zoro moans out louder then the rest. The green haired swordsman's body seemed to jerk a little, like as if Ace hit a sensitive spot. Hint hint.
The moan catches them both off guard.
Zoro covers his mouth and blushes as red as Luffy's vest.
The freckled man chuckles.
"Dammit, didn't know you- had~ that in you. I'm impressed, Zoro." The freckled man's voice drops to almost a growl. "I wonder what other sounds I can get out of you~" the man teases Zoro with that same hungry look he had given Zoro before. He reaches a hand down to touch the swordsman's horn. It doesn't get too much of a reaction, but it's something. Zoro's wings are sprawled out on the cool sand beneath both of them. Ace thinks this is the hottest sex he's had in awhile.
The swordsman tries to protest, but he's cut off by the freckled man and his energy boost. The thrusts continue to get faster with each passing second.
Zoro furrows his brow as he moans out again. He gently throws his head back a little. 'Breathe. Can't forget to breathe. I'll pass out,' Zoro reminds himself as he takes a deeper breath.
"Fuck! Ace.....hah, faster!~ I'm cl-close," Zoro calls out as Ace picks up the speed as fast as he can go. Brushing over and occasionally hitting Zoro's prostate making the swordsman shudder. Ace is really good at figuring out what peoples sexual desires are and where they like it best. In other things, he isn't so perceptive....
"Ah!" Zoro moans out as he rides his orgasm, legs shaking and breath still at a rugged pace. Ace notices Zoro face. He almost cums at the sight. The green haired swordsman has his brows furrowed up and his tongue is slightly sticking out.
Ace pulls out and cums onto the swordsman's stomach. Ace lets go of Zoro's bruised hips and plops down next to him.
As they lay there, panting, the sudden urge of thirst sneaks up on the both of them. Zoro groans as his breathing comes back down to normal. "Ace," he almost whines out by accident. "We- I should be getting back to my crew." Ace nods and helps clean up Zoro the best he can. Zoro hides his demon form once again to Ace's dismay, but not before the freckled man touches Zoro's wings. It makes the green haired swordsman shudder a little. Once they're both back into their clothing, they take one last second to enjoy the shade before stepping out into the blistering sun. Ace kisses Zoro one last time before they do so.
—
About half an hour later, they reach a town.
Zoro takes one last look at Ace. "I'll sure miss you, Zoro~," the freckled man admits. He pulls the swordsman back in for one last kiss. Ace licks Zoro's lips teasingly before heading off back to the sea. He blows a kiss at the swordsman before completely disappearing out of sight. Zoro flushes and wanders into the town to cool off.
—
Sigh
Zoro heads into the town and eventually finds his crew mates, who end up yelling at him for wandering off, a.k.a getting lost for the hundredth time that week.
—
After eventually helping out their new friend, Vivi, they end up having to flea the area as quickly as they can due to marines. They all say goodbye via holding up their left arms with the black X on it.
—
On the ship, a lady with black hair emerges from Nami's sleeping quarter's. Everyone tenses, Zoro pulls out his sword and holds it to her. The cook ends up stepping in front of it and asking the 'beautiful young lady' why she's on their ship. She plainly states that she's just trying to get away, and seen how committed our captain is to his goal. She wants to help.
—
So, after keeping strange lady on their ship, they try to find their next destination.
"Why's it pointing up?" Zoro asks the navigator.
She shrugs, "I don't know."
"Maybe that's where we need to go next?" the swordsman offers.
"Well, think about it. Is there really an island in....the......sky!" she trails off only to see giant angel like figures standing within the large mist clouds ahead. Everyone freezes.
Zoro thinks he remembers these creatures from somewhere.....but from where exactly? It's a fuzzy memory, but yes, he's seen them somewhere before. He blinks and he's suddenly waking up on a futon in the male quarter's of the boat. He groans and touch his head.
"You passed out," a blunt voice plainly states.
The swordsman looks over the see the blonde cook next to him.
"What?" Zoro asks, his vice horse and dry. He's confused on what just happened to him.
"Hell if I should know! You were standing one minute and the next you're on the bloody ground," the cook growls.
In response, the swordsman only hums.
—
Believe it or not, but there is an actual island in the sky! Their ship was shot up into the air via a water combustion.
—
On the island itself, there are mainly clouds and a very bright sun. Zoro squints his eyes.
"Amazing!" their captain bounces around with glee. Chopper and Usopp join in on bouncing around the ship.
The group is met with some locals upon making it to a beach close to the entrance.
A nice light blonde girl and her father.
Zoro suddenly feels uneasy. It's not from them, the two don't pose any threats to him. No. This is something much greater. He can't get too cocky anymore, whatever this power is, is something that may be far greater then the crew's combined together? No, maybe not... He has to protect them at any cost....
Great, their crew's been thrown into some banishing forest. It's dense and has an odd aura to it. Zoro and a few others end up getting off of the ship and heading into said forest ahead of them. The black haired lady known to Zoro as Robin is an archeologists. She also knows how to read polygliphs, she mentioned this once when he caught her reading up on them.
'Weird,' he thinks. 'It's all over grown. What exactly happened here?' He's looking at some ruins of some kind of stoney building(s). From the look of it, there really isn't much to differ from them; it's just a pile of rumble with some odd carvings on them. He travels with the two girls until he gets separated from them. Looking around he finally notices he's lost. Making his way through thick shrubs and making sure to be mindful of the large roots on the trees sticking out. A large bird flys into view, he looks up for a second, but a second too long. He trips on a root sticking out of the ground and lands on the ground. "Ow," he lightly groans, picking himself back up. The bird comes into view again, so he makes a plan to maybe fly it? Maybe he can get a better view from up above then being stuck down here.
"Caw!" the bird howls in a weird sort of way, not if a bird, but of a howler monkey?
'Creepy,' he thinks.
The bird grabs hold of his bag and starts the take off with it. The swordsman quickly grabs hold of the bag as he's taken off into the sky. The higher they get, the thinner the air becomes, and the more he feels like passing out. A giant snake follows them. Silence for a moment. "Fly higher bird!" the swordsman shouts, clinging onto the straps of the bag. The bird gives him a look.
"Don't you dare," he threatens, but to no avail.
The bird drops him.
Zoro plummets to the ground with a scream of terror. He isn't really a huge fan of heights. Making a quickly decision to pull out his wings, he gently flies to the ground. Thankfully he makes it to the ground unscathed. "Oh!" the swordsman puts his wings away among other things before anyone around can get a glimpse.
"What is this place?" he mumbles to no one in particular, looking around.
Chapter 2: Long and Trusting Journey
Summary:
This story takes place from Skypedia to the beginning of the two year time skip.
Notes:
Sorry about any spelling errors, these are quite long chapters I’ve stupidly, but not regrettably decided to post lol. Enjoy!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Someone whom calls himself “god” suddenly shows up, floating down to the group standing with Zoro. The man laughs and and strikes down the group members one by one using some type lightning. 'Devil fruit eater,' the green haired swordsman thinks, readying himself for another attack from the odd man with baggy orange pants. He knows that making a move in this situation, now, means getting possibly struck down. So, he stays still as long as he can until he can't take it anymore. He unsheathes Wado and runs forward, taking a strike at the floating lightning person. He misses and the devil fruit eater touches Zoro’s back which causes lightning to directly go down his spine. The bolt courses through his body like blood in his veins, it’s shocking and frying his insides. It's an off feeling to stay the least....
The swordsman gets thrown back by the one that calls himself God near Robin’s unmoving body. His body falls limp and everything goes black.
When he wakes up, he isn't sure how much time's passed, but when he opens his eyes with a gasp, he coughs. Zoro turns his head to the side to see the strange woman with black hair is already sitting up. He quickly collects himself, sitting up and turning his head to look at her.
"What's your deal?" Zoro almost growls, not intentionally, he's just in a weird amount of pain in different parts of his body. It's like tv static, except he can taste it.
She hums.
"What? That guy fry your brain?"
She giggles.
"What's so funny??"
"Nothing. This place certainly has some great value to it; not just in the treasures, I mean. It is quite old…. Everything here doesn't exactly fit in with everything around, wouldn't you say?" she asks, turning to face him with knowing eyes likes she’s onto something.
He shrugs and shakes his head a little.
"I noticed your expressions earlier today. You were thinking about the land, weren't you?" she offers, turning her gaze back to the front of her, closing her eyes gently.
'How the hell??' he thinks, slightly reaching for a sword. He can't let his guard down around this weird lady.
"I- well, it's weird." He lowers his defenses a little bit and lets the hand that was once in his katana lay on his lap. "The other islands here don't, by any means, look like this one. This island has trees and dirt….. In a way, it's almost like-"
"This island's been lifted to the sky," she finishes his sentence.
He shrugs.
Getting up, the swordsman saunters over to the black haired woman.
"Say, how much do you know about history of the land that book was talking about? Is it really true?" he asks, extending a hand out to her.
She smiles and takes it.
-
Their captain finds a golden bell high up in some clouds above this sanctuary place Eneru would stay in. The rubber captain rings it and the beautiful sounds bring tears to all the locals. They thank the Straw Hats and have a large banquet. Zoro doesn't like being in large crowds of people, so he sits a little ways off from them up against a fallen log. Partying and interacting with so many people just feels a little weird to him. It's not like he doesn't like talking and being with people, no, that's not the problem…… He's just never really gotten a good response or reaction around people before; seeing that he's a demon and couldn't hide it as well as he could back then. It hurt him more then he is willing to let on.
The cook staggers over to him, a little tipsy and tripping everywhere.
He stumbles, but sits down next to the swordsman. He almost falls backwards, but the blonde catches himself before he does.
"What're you doing over here?" the cook slightly slurs his words. He looks over to the green haired swordsman and smiles very drunkenly.
Zoro looks away and shrugs.
"Don't really like big crowds," he admits.
The cook nods and returns his gaze forward.
"You know," he starts, "letting people, your friends, seeing you happy, wouldn't kill you, right?" the blonde half heartedly jokes. Zoro rolls his eyes. He's had a couple beers, but he knows how to hold his liquor. "Breaking down- your walls to people whom you trust, s'fine. It helwps you and tem get to know each other-"
"You trying to give me drunken advice now?" Zoro teases.
The cook blushes, "dumbass. Fine, I'll leave you be." The cook almost pouts as he leaves to go dancing with some local women. The swordsman rolls his eyes again. Letting his heavy eyelids fall shut, he gets to thinking.
'I wonder if I'll ever see Ace again,' he chuckles at the thought, 'I bet he's eating up a storm right now....' The swordsman drifts off as his back hits the ground with a light
*thud*
noise. The cool air around him helps him fall into unconsciousness.
--
It's been around two weeks since visiting the sky island and Zoro's been non stop training since. He needs to get stronger. He can't let himself get defeated by any other opponents.
"Marimo!-" The cook’s shouting is cut off by their captain jumping over him and pointing wildly. "ISLAND!" the captain shouts to the heavens themselves with large and sparkling eyes. Zoro grumbles as he gets up from laying on the deck. He looks towards the bow and sees and approaching island with tons of water all around and on it. "Are you even listening to me?" a voice rings out on his ears.
The swordsman turns his head to see the blonde cook. He squints his eyes at the figure and at the bright sun behind him.
He hums.
"I said, can you help me get a few things in town? Usopp's gonna watch the ship and I don't want to bother the ladies with such troubles," he practically sings in the air.
Zoro rolls his eyes.
"Let Usopp help you. I'll take over watching the ship," he says before turning around and padding over to the sniper.
"Wrong way, dumbass!"
The swordsman grunts and turns back to glare at the all knowing cook.
Blegh
-
When everyone's left the ship, Zoro takes some time to meditate. Before arriving at the island, all he was doing was sleeping from the training session he had just finished. Now, he's gonna focus on training his Haki and working on calming methods to help him stay in focus so he doesn't accidentally show his true self through intense moments again.
-
Some time passes and he doesn't notice the rapidly approaching person. "What're you doing here?" he asks, quickly opening his eyes to see an odd looking person with a long square nose. He’s like Usopp except he has a square nose. The man smiles and hops below deck. "Oi! You deaf or somethin?!" the swordsman shouts to the man taking apart their boat.
"Hmmm," the man hums crouched over on the floor.
"Your friends sent me to take a look at your boat. I'm a shipwright," he happily announces, only turing his head back to briefly look up at the swordsman.
The odd man stands up and places both hands on his hips before turning back up to the swordsman.
"I'm afraid this vessel isn't going to sail anymore."
"Hah? Why not?"
"The bottom of the boat has more cracks then I've ever seen before. Even if we replace the wood, and if you had enough money, there's also many other things wrong. Too much to explain….. In my opinion, it would be wiser to get a new boat," the man explains.
Zoro backs away from the hatch as the man hops out of it. The square nose guy tilts his hat and hops away back into the city where he first came from.
".....Weirdo...." Zoro squints his eyes in annoyance at the hopping figure.
-
Their captain and the sniper have a huge fight that involves the sniper leaving the crew. Zoro's the first one to turn his back. Someone that leaves on their own shouldn't be aloud to come back. It's their decision to leave, not one else's. Why should the sniper be treated any different?
-
Sooner or later the swordsman finds himself aboard a sea train heading straight for a navel base. "Be careful cook," Zoro reliantly retorts into the snail. "Aw~" the cook coos, "didn't know you cared so much~" he teases as the swordsman shuts off the transponder snail. Sanji chuckles as he dips into the cart below.
As they fight their way in the train itself, the group all find themselves coming face to face with the large floating structure. No plan has been discussed, but they head in anyway. Typical. Robin, the demon child, is what the government calls her. Zoro thinks it might be due to her devil fruit, but he could be wrong. She kneels as she stares down at the people she called crew mates. Tears streaming from her eyes and down her cheeks. Zoro smirks as soon as their captain, Luffy, steps forward and points a finger up to her.
"I want to live!" she shouts.
A heart felt moment for the crew and the lady herself. Zoro’s willing to trust her now. If Luffy’s willing to fight for her this much, he’ll give it a try at trusting her.
The rest of the fighting is just a blur to Zoro. He faintly remembers fighting that weirdo from before, the shipwright with the long square nose. He gets an odd feeling like he might've shown something that he shouldn't have. A demon with six arms and three heads, is what someone called him at one point in his life. That's how he obtained the name “demon of the East Blue”. When he was collecting a new bounty, he accidentally showed his truth self to them; it was a mistake that took even the pirate hunter by surprise. An accomplice of the group of pirates got away and warned the neighbouring town about a demon. The pirate hunter was fucked and he knew it….
Ever since, Zoro’s hidden true self or tries to anyway... Sometimes you just can't have what you want in life and that definitely means slip ups.
-
Finally, they're on the sea again with an odd blue haired man who only wears a red speedos and hideous tropical button ups that are always open. Luffy decides to bring Usopp back after a ton of pleading, crying and apologizing on both ends, mainly just crying on Luffy’s side. Zoro scoffs when their captain is smothering the snipper in hugs and tears.
"Geez Marimo. Have a heart," the cook retorts with a side glare.
The swordsman doesn't say anything, just pads away over to the crow's nest. Oh! At this point in time, they’ve gained a brand new ship. Luffy’s named it the Thousand Sunny. It’s much larger then their old ship, it has many new and well designed rooms. This is all thanks to the their newest crew member, Franky. He may look and act a little odd, but hell, they all are in some way or another.
Zoro climbs up the ladder into the new crow's nest. This one is a lot bigger then their old one and the room even has a built in gym. Zoro’s eyes light up with excitement. It really does look amazing though, it's just a little hard to navigate. To the green haired swordsman, the walls keep moving around; this is why he gets lost, on the ship, all of the time.... 😵💫
-
A couple days after leaving Water Seven, Zoro finds himself keeping watch at night more. While the green haired swordsman lets his mind wander, he hears a voice in the back of his mind telling him to turn around and wander off somewhere. He tries to push it out, but the deep voice is persistent with its demands. He knows it's just whatever is in the his cursed blade, Kitetsu, he picked up, but something just never really sat right with him about the whole thing. It's like there's more to the story about the sword then what was told to him….
Two hushed voices snap him out of his thoughts.
"Quiet, idiot. You don't wanna wake anyone up, right?" the first male voice angrily states in a hushed voice. Zoro can hear this because he’s right next to the window facing the kitchen.
He thinks it's maybe the cook or Usopp up to something not good.
"I know-" a second, louder voice answers back, but it turns into a muffled sound.
The swordsman thinks that maybe the first person is covering the other's- No, their captain's mouth. 'Maybe those two are trying to steal food under the cook's nose-....' his thoughts trail off when he hears a light hum? No- moan. 'What the fuck??' he thinks as he hides out of sight from below the open window. I mean- it's night and dark and all, but still... Ge slightly peers over the edge to see if he can get a glimpse of whomever the first person is; when he does, it shocks it him to point of losing all train of thought.
"Lets be quick before anyone notices we're gone," the first voice states in an annoying tone.
'It's the cook.'
Zoro knows the two now culprits now.
The first voice is the ero-cook and the second is Luffy, but why? What're they doooo……..Never mind.
It hits him.
'Holy shit! And here I was thinking that the cook, Mr. Gentleman among men, was straight! He's fucking the captain!....... He's fucking the captain……' The sudden realization sends a shiver down his spine. He’s now had enough of whatever the hell he just saw. He gets up and pads over to the other side of the room only to find himself standing before the hatch leading down to the ladder. He got lost moving from one side of the room to the other.
Sigh
This is gonna be a long night….
-
Two week have passed and Zoro's getting more anxious by the minute. He wants to see a new island soon; the feeling of being cooped up like this isn't too pleasant. He's not sure how much longer he can stand hearing those two at night any longer. Their hushed voices and ‘quiet’ sneaking around, the green haired swordsman thinks that he isn’t the only one who’s noticed their nighttime ‘events’ either. Anyway, even though Zoro closes the windows on the kitchen side, he can still hear slight sounds.
"ISLAND!" Luffy shouts excitedly, but no one shares in on his excitement beside Zoro, internally. He’ll admit it in his head, his captain may have scared him a little with the sudden shouting. The green haired swordsman was a little deep in thought, a.k.a zoning out.
The Sunny comes up to an island that’s all dark and gloomy; a low fog covers the surrounding area leaving it with a colder feeling then out in the sun. The vibes it gives off is creepy and uncollected like something feels off somehow, Zoro just doesn’t know yet. As the ship gets closer to the larger island, old ships quickly come into view. The green haired swordsman steps back from the railing a little bit. The ships are scattered on either side of them. They're all broken and they look like they’ve been here for a really long time, some longer then others..... A sudden creepy whistling can be heard throughout the eerie area. No- it wasn't the wind....it sounds as if someone, or something is out there….singing?
Zoro hums and keeps his defense up.
"Ooooo~" Luffy looks around leaning over the railing with a hand on his forehead as he looks out at all the broken ships. He spots a ship and grabs the cook and the navigator by the arms. "Lets go check it out!" The two on either side of him don't move right away. The swordsman thinks the cook looks a bit scared, but he isn't going to mention anything just yet.
The singing, maybe laughing sound can still be heard as the three make their way on an old broken down boat.
Luffy takes a few steps with his net before he sees what's making the noise. "A skeleton?" Sanji speaks up.
"Yohohoho!" it laughs.
"Cool!" Luffy states with large, sparkling eyes, the other two take a step back. "Who might you be?" the skeleton asks. "Y-you can talk?!" Sanji jumps in disbelief. Nami rolls her eyes at the buffoon. The skeleton nods his head, more like skull. "Miss," he speaks, "can I see your panties?-"
"Hell no!" Nami kicks the skeleton into the air.
She leaves back to the Sunny, grumbling all the while doing so.
"Nami-swan! Wait for me!" Sanji shouts after her, running to catch up. The cook is scared, but won't admit it out loud, not to anyone…ever. Luffy turns back to the skeleton and smiles. "Wanna join my crew?" he asks with a giggle. The skeleton tilts his head to the side and thinks. "No, well, not now. There's something of importance I must do first. I'm Brook by the way," the skeleton introduces himself as a pirate who once sailed the seas about fifty or so years ago. Luffy finds the skeleton funny. The two go back to the Thousand Sunny.
-
Back on the Sunny, Zoro stares on in disbelief. "Whatcha got there, Luffy?" the green haired swordsman wonders with widened eyes of curiosity. "A net," he answers quite innocently and serious for the matter. Zoro sighs and drags a hand down his face. "No, that's not what I meant. I know you know this, idiot...." he grumbles.
"Shishishishi!" Luffy giggles.
The cook looks away from their captain.
Zoro rolls his eyes because he seen the cook and what he just did.
Woof
"Brook," he answers like everyone already knows. "He's gonna join our crew once he does something important, right?" The captain looks back up to the tall skeleton. Brook nods and bows before the crew like he’s bowing before royalty. "My name is Brook and I'm a former Rumbar Pirate. There's something of importance I must warn you all about before you continue onto that boat," he explains, pointing to the large island?
Everyone gives him an odd look.
"Boat?" Robin wonders, looking over to the very obvious island.
Brook nods and straightens up. He stands tall over all of them, well, all besides Franky.
"Correct. It may look like an island, but it's really a boat. Just a very large one at that."
The archaeologist hums, "lets talk inside," Robin suggests.
They all agree and head inside the galley.
"Explain more please. How are.....um," Nami trails off thinking of the right words to say.
"How I'm still alive? I mean, I'm a skeleton, I can't be alive, yohohoho!" Brook jokes.
Luffy giggles.
"About fifty or so years ago, I think? Not sure how long I've been out for..." he trails off, "Anyway, I ate the Yomi Yomi no Mi fruit. It allows a power to surge within my body, not that I have one-"
"Get to the point," the cook states.
"My devil fruit is why I'm able to talk to you today. It allows the user to gain a second life."
"So, are you immortal then?" Usopp asks.
He shrugs.
"I suppose so........ You see, after I died, my soul found my skeletal body and well, here I am! Yohoho!"
Zoro tilts his head.
"So, what was the 'important' thing you have to take care of?" the green haired swordsman asks, leaning on the back wall with his arms crossed.
"Right! On that island is one of seven warlords, Gocko Moria. He possesses a devil fruit called the Kage Kage no Mi devil fruit. It allows him to take shadows."
"Is that you're important thing? Did the warlord take your soul or something?" Frankly asks. He wasn’t really paying any attention to what Brook said about his devil fruit earlier.
Brook plainly nods and stands up. “Or something.”
"Thank you all for your hospitality, but I must be going. Yohoho!" The skeleton exits the room and hops off of the boat. The crew rushes out the galley door and over to the side only to see Brook running across the water quite rapidly. Zoro watches in astonishment. “How can he do that?” the green haired swordsman mumbles out loud, not realizing that he did.
“Dunno,” the cook answers.
-
They spilt off into two groups as they make their way onto the boat island thing. As they’re walking on a path a giant dog thing shows up; thinking that it's going to take down Luffy, everyone was wrong. Luffy places the net on his back and pads over to the large dog. He pets it. “Good boy. Good boy-“ What everyone was expecting was Luffy to continue petting it, but no. The rubber captain ends up beating the dog into a wall. Zoro’s mouth hangs open wide along with the others with them. A second- not even that later.... Their captain picks up the poor dog and hops onto its back. He ends up riding it with the cook close behind.
The blonde looks as if he wants to hug the captain from behind, but doesn't press on it due to how many people are around. Zoro noticed this due to glancing back for any other enemies. The green haired swordsman squints his eyes to make sure he's seeing things right. After deciding against speaking up about the matter, he presses onward looking around at the dead and dreary landscape.
’The land only seems to have two colors. Grey and dark blue,’ the green haired swordsman thinks.
-
While wondering around in the dense and dark forest, Zoro gets a sudden odd feeling. He looks up and spots something translucent and floating down to him. He squints his eyes to make sure that he's seeing it right.
"Ghosts?" Zoro thinks out load to no one in particular.
"Really??!" Luffy excitedly hops off of the zombie dog and runs over to Zoro to catch one them with the net. When he tries to catch the ghost, but it goes right through the net and floats over to the shipwright. The pervert drops to the ground and states, "I can hear the whole world booing me..."
"What the-" Zoro tries to get out, but is interrupted by their captain dropping to the ground as well.
"If I could be reborn, I'd like to be a clam..."
Before Zoro can take a step, a ghost goes through him as well. The green haired swordsman drops to the ground, "I'm sorry I was ever born..." he mumbles. The cook snickers as he watches the ghosts disappear out of sight. The crew slowly stand up. Brushing themselves off, they begin walking again. "Wait, wait-" the cook says out of breath, "I'm sorry.” The cook looks like he just might apologize, but then he smiles. "I'm sorry I was ever born!!- hahahaha!" the blonde laughs out, falling backwards on the back of the zombie dog and kicking his legs in the air.
Zoro's heart thumps loudly in his chest. He turns his gaze away from the cook.
The cook's laugh is kinda cute.... No, he shouldn't be thinking about stuff like this. The cook is with their captain, he can't just swoop in and take- 'the hell am I thinking?!' he thinks, shouting at himself in his head as he blushes at the cook's antics and his own.
The group happens upon a graveyard. The large dog stops with the cook still on it. Something suddenly pops out of the ground, it shouts and Luffy pads over to it. He hums and examines it for a second too long. “A severely injured man.” The rubber captain comes to a conclusion while smacking the palm of his hand with a fist.
By this point, the cook had gotten off of the dog to see what it was too. The group stayed away from where Luffy walked over to.
The group shouts at their captain. “That’s a zombie!”
The rubber captain nods and pushes the zombie back into its grave. Not a second later, it pops back out stating that it’s not going back in there. Just then, a large group of zombies show up and begin attacking. The four of them take care of the zombies and walk off. Zoro, at this point, kind of zones out a little…..
-
The next thing the green haired swordsman knows is that he's now inside of a castle, wandering around with his crew mates. As they file down the long and dark halls of this castle, Zoro looks around at the old paintings, doors and other pieces of furniture.
Before long, while everyone is distracted, the cook disappears from their group. Looking around, to no avail, the green haired swordsman spots no trace of where the blonde ran off to. While glancing around the space he's in with the others, he notices something a little off about the inside of it. The dark castle seems a little too kept for something that looks as old as the outside. While the swordsman takes in his surroundings once again, he suddenly feels an odd sensation on the top of his head. Like something is touching it.
A shiver runs down his spine at the thought as his heart drop into his stomach. It feels….weird!
He looks up only to swiftly get swept away by a large oddly shaped spider. Its a little hard to tell what's grabbing you when only look at it for a second. Also, when the thing blinds you with some kind of sticky material. The sticky substance doesn’t just cover his eyes, but his mouth too. The green haired swordsman guesses this is because it would prevent him from making a sound as he's being dragged off. ‘This sucks!’ Zoro thinks.
-
When he finally gets to see his surroundings, he's in front of this large figure with an odd smile. It laughs at him and a light is cast upon the swordsman’s body. He squints his eyes as an odd feeling he can't describe washes over him. It kinda stings, yet kinda makes him nauseous. He passes out, but before that fully happens, he gets to see the blonde cook on the ground, unmoving. '....Shit....'
-
When the green haired swordsman comes to, he hears the mention of a swordsman. Opening his eyes he feels his mouth being stretched. He takes out the chopsticks out of his mouth as his boot falls off of his head. The other two wake up and Luffy ends up falling forwards, even though he's on a chair, face first.
*THUD*
"Owe~" Luffy groans.
Zoro rolls his eyes and helps his captain to his feet.
The cook stands up, cracking his back, he then looks over to the navigator. "Nami-swan~ Are you alright? There's no need to worry over me," he coos.
Zoro, suddenly feeling nauseous. He pushes past everyone and runs outside of the galley for the railing to vomit out what he's had that day over it. Sinking to the deck, he covers his mouth. His ears are ringing, so he doesn't hear it when someone approaches behind him. A gentle hand to his shoulder makes him flinch.
"You alright?" Luffy asks in a hushed voice for only the swordsman to hear.
Zoro nods his head. He doesn’t really know what was said, but he knows it’s Luffy. He may heave asked if he was okay? Zoro will never know.
Luffy knows he's lying, but he doesn't press on.
They all make a unanimous decision to go back to the ship island to get their shadows back. Luffy loudly declares it for everyone to hear. Just then, a loud booming voice intervenes on their conversation. Zoro focuses his gaze on the giant corpse walking by the castle. Brook shows up with a smile and a plan. Not that he has skin to smile with. The green haired swordsman nods and walks with them....
Never mind.
"Huh?" Zoro wonders, "they got lost again," he makes up an excuse he knows is false.
The green haired swordsman blinks again and somehow he’s inside the castle. Franky and a Brook are here too, the shipwright is holding onto the skeleton on the floor. Zoro pads over and steps in when he sees an opponent charging towards the two on the ground. He stops the attack.
Zoro comes face to face with a samurai in a white, red and dark blue yukata, he freezes. A feeling of daja-vu hits him hard. He's never seen this samurai or his corpse before. Seeing the undead samurai reminds of something his mother said or something her has mentioned. It also might've been some weird old lady too. His memory gets a little fuzzy from time to time. The green haired swordsman can't recall what she said exactly, but it had something to do with the pattern on the samurai's yukata.
The samurai challenges him to a match instead of continuing with Brook. Zoro blaintingly accepts with a devilish smirk, he readies both of his swords for this fight before any attacks are made.
The samurai is the first to jump forward, has impeccable skills, Zoro can sense it from the moment he walked into the room. The two exchange clashes of swords; in a way, the green haired swordsman thinks there’s something off about the way the zombie samurai is fighting, just can’t put a finger on it.
A hole is broken in the castle wall, they jump out and end up fighting on the roof of the building. Brook follows; Franky disappears somewhere, he said he had something to do. The skeleton swordsman watches as the two living swordsman fight on this slanted roof. Zoro almost falls off a few times, but he always catches himself in the end.
When Zoro delivers the final blow, the zombie samurai gains a blue flaming aura before they clash swords once more. A gust of harsh winds blow in and almost knock both of them off, but they stay on their feet. The zombie samurai accepts defeat, he hands over his katana to Zoro. The green haired swordsman's been looking for a replacement for his old one which had to be discarded in Endies Lobby due to it being rusted up really badly. It was to the point where there was no restoring it, and another fact was that there was only a quarter of the sword left after the ordeal.
Zoro accepts the sword and the corpse burns up, his yukata falling to the top of the roof where he once stood. 'Was he holding back?...... It felt like he was...... Who was he?' Zoro thinks as he stares at the burnt of clothing, blue flames still trying to cling onto life.
Still on top of the roof, Zoro gets a sudden realization. 'I've seen that symbol before, but where.....!' It hits him. Back when he lived in the East Blue on a small island with a small village on it, Shisimoki Village, there was a large ship that would visit every five years. It had a large black dragon on the side, four large masts and was a brownish, redish color. The kids in his old dojo got really excited when it arrived, but he didn't seem to care or really know why. Training was all that really mattered at the time.
But wait.
That's not why he remembers the symbol of the samurai yukata.
One day, he briefly caught a glimpse of the head of the revolutionaries face, Dragon. The revolutionary has a similar tattoo on the left side of his face. Why? What's the connection again? If there is one....
"Marimo!" the cook's annoying voice rings out in his ears.
"Huh?"
"What're you doing?? Never mind, just get down from there and help us out, will ya?!" the blonde shouts in an annoyed tone.
Zoro sighs and grumbles his way down to the cook. I mean, he jumps down and makes a few wrong turns along the way, but he eventually makes it to where the cook is waiting. Kitetsu seems to be a little quieter in this part of the world for some odd reason. Weird. He hasn’t heard anything from the sword since they arrived, he just now realized that.
-
After the defeat of the warlord known as Gecko Moria, a large man shows up. He looks a little like a panda bear. Cute.
'I know that guy from somewhere....where??' Zoro tries his best to think back to where he's seen that giant panda man from. ‘No, never mind. I don’t know that guy.’
The large man with a white hat, black jacket and spotted white pants turns to look at Luffy. Zoro offers his body and swords to the man to spare his life of save him. The cook tries to intervene, but Zoro knocks him out.
The panda looking man turns to Luffy, picks him up and takes this giant pink paw shaped orb out of his body, he leaves it to float in the air. The giant man takes a little part of it and floats it over to Zoro. The green haired swordsman touches it- the pain is unbearable. But it doesn't last long. Taking a deep breath of fresh air, he takes a couple steps forward and shoves both hands into the giant paw shaped orb.
Pain
Bones breaking
Bones shattering
Can’t breathe
Cuts
Bleeding
Too much blood......
If this is what Luffy's been having to deal with the entire time they've been here, then he will too. Zoro will take all of his captain's pain away if it means being able to help him.
Zoro's whole body feels like it's being snapped in every which way. His lungs squeezing, head pounding, blood pooling out of his face, limbs going numb, but he doesn't fall. The giant panda man pads away without a single word. Zoro stands and allows a few tears to fall, his entire body hurts like he's been hit by a freight train. His Haki slips and his demonic features end up presenting themselves for the world to see.
The faint sound of footsteps can be heard stopping in place over the deafening sound of ringing in his ears.
The green haired swordsman isn’t sure how long he’s been standing here fir, but he guesses it’s been awhile….
"Marimo?" a trembling voice calls out.
He looks up and sees the blonde cook staring on in horror. He's not gonna blame him if he runs away, I mean....look at him. He's a monster...and he looks even worse with all the blood.
The cook slowly pads over to the green haired swordsman and stands before him unmoving and shaking a little. Zoro doesn’t know whether it’s from the terror or his own wounds. "What happened?" the cook asks, trying to keep his voice still. Zoro doesn't move nor does he look at the blonde cook. "....Nothing...happened...." he mumbles out, keeping his gaze at the ground. A pair of hands cup his face and make him look up at the cook. "Why.....why didn't you tell us sooner? That you're, you know-"
"D-D-demon," the swordsman stutters out as a tear falls down his cheek and to the rubble and blood below.
"It's not something I-I can-....proudly go around- saying! Ugh..." the swordsman groans as the empty words slip past his dry and cracked lips. Dry blood covers them.
The cook helps hold up the bleeding and horribly wounded swordsman. "You-you t-tell no one of this. Understand?"
The cook nods reluctantly.
Zoro uses the last of his Haki to hide away everything, again. He can't risk anyone else seeing him like that. He doesn't want to see their horrified faces like the cook just had on....it'll hurt too much...
-
On the way back to everyone else, he passes out and Sanji ends up carrying the green haired swordsman fireman style back to everyone. Chopper patches him up and they all celebrate the defeat of the warlord. Brook joins their crew and Sanji waits next to Zoro's unconscious body with his head down and his knees tucked up close to his body on the floor. He feels like it was his fault that got his Nakama to get injured this badly.
Luffy stops by and sits next to Sanji. The Straw Hat captain gently lays his head on the cook's shoulder. Sanji leans into the embrace and lets a few stray tears fall down his cheeks and into his blue hoodie. "It'll be okay, Sanji. Zoro will be okay," Luffy softly reassures.
-
They're back in the open sea!
It's been about three weeks since Thriller Bark and thankfully Zoro's awake and moving around. He's been non-stop training for the past two weeks and a half. He did end up taking a few days off to mentally train himself instead of just physically training. Sometimes, he just knows when to take a break from it, he can just feel it within himself which isn’t too often. Sometimes he forgets to take a break and ends up sleeping for longer or fainting due to being overworked via his training sessions. He can be a massive idiot at times, mainly a lot of the time because he forgets to think things through rationally.
-
The Straw Hats next destination is an island called Fishman Island, but instead they have to make a pit stop on an island called Sabaody first.
-
The crew breaks off into a few different groups with Zoro heading off on his own. I know, big mistake on his part, but yet again, he didn’t really think this part through carefully enough.
As he looks around, while walking, he notices a group of people all kneeling before something. Taking a sip of his beer the green haired swordsman saunters over to the ugly mug riding a human- a human?? His heart drops to his stomach. This sick sight before him makes him want to punch this guy, but he knows he shouldn't. He stays on the sidelines of the mess unfolding in front of him. He doesn't kneel, mind you. Fuck. That.
He'll never kneel to anyone like that, ever in his life. To celestial dragons and the government he means.
When the celestial dragon shoots someone, the man falls to the ground bleeding out as some lady cries over him. She’s also being dragged off. The celestial dragon wanted a new bride, so he took this one that had a husband. The prick shot him and left him for dead....
A pink haired female wanders herself over to him. "The hell do you think you're doing?" she growls, "he could've seen you over here!"
Zoro plugs his ears.
"Hey!" she shouts, grabbing both hands and forcing his fingers out of his ears. "I'm not done talk-"
"I am."
Zoro turns away and pads over to the bleeding out man on the ground. She follows. "If he- a celestial dragon!- had seen you standing over here, he would've shot you down in a heartbeat! Are you some kind of idiot?!" she pesters just like the girl at Thriller Bark, but worse. "Do you know where the hospital is?" the swordsman asks ignoring her questions.
This stuns her into silence.
"What?"
"Do I have to repeat myself?"
"....um, down the street and to your right," she mutters.
He nods and takes his leave.
She's left standing in one spot, unsure as what to do next. "Tch, idiot... That's your left dumbass!" she shouts before storming off.
-
After taking a little longer then expected, he finally dumps the bleeding man off at the hospital and takes his leave from the place. As he wanders down the streets filled with laughter, smiles and joy, it's peaceful. This is until someone vomits and ruins the peace. He looks around to see if he can spot to the culprit; it's a little kid who's had too much to eat.
Sigh
Upon looking around the scenery some more, his eyes stop on an interesting looking person who looks taller then he is, has on some type of animal print pants, a yellow and black shirt and an odd looking hat. A long black sword with a fluffy hilt rests on their shoulder. Just as soon as he saw this person, they was gone.
Blinking again, Zoro still doesn't see them.
'Damn,' he curses in his head. He wishes he had seen the person's face at least. 'Could it have been- no. Why would he be here of all places?'
-
Sometime later, Zoro finds himself lost again. "Shit-" he barely manages to mumble out before he's struck on the back of the head. Everything goes black before he hits the ground.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
When he comes to, the back of his head feels heavy and his back feels like it's been hit a bunch of times. A sudden and quick realization comes to find him when he can't talk. His mouth is blocked by something, preventing him from talking. His vision is also quite blurry. When he straightens himself up, some voices can be heard, but he can't make out what they're saying. A man that seems to be talking to him, he smiles. Zoro stares on in confusion. He can’t really see what the man looks like nor can he hear what he’s saying.
"You're from that Straw Hat crew, aren't you?" an older voice repeats.
Zoro hums.
"Let me guess. They put you in here because you look like that? Or," the man with long white hair ponders, "you're really valuable….hmm, maybe strength?" the man questions.
Zoro can make out the words a little more now. He doesn’t think he’s valuable by any means- wait….he has a bounty. It’s not that high though…. He is also quite strong, but after ThrillerBark, his strength has depleted. He’s been healing since then, slowly mind you. An odd wheezing type sound can be heard every time he breathes, but he's gotten used to it by now. He's not gonna tell the little doctor about it, he doesn't want to worry the little reindeer even more then he already is about the topic at hand regarding his injuries.
Zoro goes to speak, but remembering that something's in his mouth preventing him from speaking, he hums instead.
"Here." The old man takes off the muzzle with ease using some type of power. The metal muzzle drops to the ground with thud. No one seems to notice nor do they seem like they care enough to.
Zoro wipes his mouth from saliva on his shoulder the best he can, his hands are also chained up in some type of metal.
"Wha-what? How did- Wait. Can you repeat what you said. I couldn't really hear you," the green haired swordsman admits.
The old man chuckles, "I asked if you were with the Straw hat crew."
Zoro feels his face heating up with embarrassment. Luckily for him, the room everyone's held in is dim.
"I am. What of it?"
"Just wondering...." The man trails off with his words. He almost looks like he's smirking in a way, but that could also be Zoro's imagination. He was hit pretty hard on the back of the head.
Zoro turns back to facing the bars of the large cage they're in. They’re far away though, him and this man seem to be in the very back. Now that the green haired swordsman gets a better look at things, he sees that they're in a large cage with many others in here as well. Zoro’s eyes stop on a short, green haired female mermaid. "Camie?" he mumbles out. The old man turns to the young swordsman with an interested look and then looks back to the mermaid.
"You know her I take it."
Zoro hums in agreement. He knows it isn’t a question.
"How would you help her from this position you're in? Your hands are locked up, wings chained to the concrete behind and you have shackles around your ankles. Think, Roronoa Zoro. What could you use?" the old man asks again. This surprises Zoro. He didn't think that many people out there knew his name. 'Just who the hell is this guy?' he thinks. If you think about it, Zoro still does have a bounty on his head. He isn't thinking clearly.
"Just who the hell are you anyway, old geezer?"
The old man chuckles, "just an old geezer," the man sighs with his hands in the air and a large smile of his face.
He stands up and Zoro gets a better look at the old man's face. His heart sinks to his stomach. He remembers far back when his Sensei would talk about a group of pirates, since one of the kids in the dojo brought it up. The Roger Pirates. About Gold Roger and his crew, and how they found the One Piece, whatever the hell that was...
This old geezer was one of them? Yes, he was...
Zoro watches as the old man breaks his shackles with ease as well as everyone else's. "Oh-" The green haired swordsman puts his demonic features away as he exits the cage among others. A big commotion goes on as Zoro slips out of the building and to the front entrance. Now, he gets a better look at the tall man he seen earlier.
The green haired swordsman can't remember the man's name, but he's seen his wanted poster somewhere.
Thump
Ba-dump
Zoro's heart beats loudly in his ears as he stares on at the tall man with black hair and the weird hat from earlier. Snapping him out of his daze is the redhead navigator. "Zoro! Where the absolute hell have you been??! You know what- never mind. We've gotta get going!" she shouts, grabbing his wrist and leading him back in the direction of the ship.
Luffy soon joins them as they all run back.
Zoro falters a little. Nami lets go. She trusts that he'll keep his eyes on her and follow her back to the ship. He does, but almost misses sight a few times. He’s okay at following people, but once it gets to a large group of people he’s following, Kitetsu would speak up in the back of his mind. He would then wander off.
His internal wounds are a little too much for him to bare at the moment. It hurts to breathe. He collapses about a hundred or so meters from the ship. A navel marine, who goes by the name admiral Kizaru, shows up and threatens to puts a hole through the Straw Hats first mate. The former first mate of the Roger Pirates, Silvers Rayleigh, intervenes and holds off the admiral while the Straw Hats take off running again. Everyone stops when the large panda man, a revolutionary known as Kuma, suddenly appears and paw-paws the injured green haired swordsman away.
A chill runs down everyone's spines.
"He's.....gone," Sanji mutters out in pure shock.
"Run! We'll meet back up on the Sunny!" Luffy shouts.
Not long after, Brook is the next to go, Usopp follows and Sanji isn't close behind.
Fear strikes everyone in the eyes.
Kuma paw-paws the shipwright, Franky away. Nami, Chopper and Robin are the last ones to go. Luffy collapses to the ground and cries out in frustration. Kuma pads over the the struggling captain. "Why- why?!" he shouts out as tears fall to the grass below. "They're not hurt nor dead," a deep voice quietly mentions.
Luffy looks up.
It's the revolutionary.
"What? The hell did you-"
"They're safe. You'll see why later-" Kuma mentions as he paw-paws the final Straw Hat away. Luffy didn’t think he could talk…
-
When Zoro opens his eyes, he feels sore and stiff. He groans and tries to sit up, struggling a little bit. Once he finally does, he comes face to face with a very familiar pink haired girl. Thinking back, he remembers seeing her on ThrillerBark three weeks prior. They stare at one another before the girl gets spooked and falls back in her chair with a yelp. "The- what're you doing, staring like that??" she shrieks from the floor. She looks angry? Frustrated? He's not sure, he just knows that she's upset about something unknown to him.
He blinks.
'The hell is she on about? I just sat up...' he thinks, rubbing his head before feeling a bit of numb pain. He winces. The swordsman closes his eyes in frustration, but mainly due to the headache he's suddenly and quickly obtained. Maybe touching his head wasn’t a great idea….
He squint one eye open and glances over in her direction. She's now stand-nope. She's floating now, just great..... "Where am I?" he mumbles, now bringing both eyes up to meet her pouting gaze. She smiles in delight, "In a beautiful gothic castle~" she coos with a blush on her face as she cups her hands together and spins in a circle a few times.
"Lame. What're my swords-"
"What did you say? 'Lame'. Tch, you'll eventually learn to appreciate this beautiful place!" she cuts him off via her own ramble.
He rolls his eyes, slightly wincing at the sharp and invading headache.
He slowly drags his legs to the edge of the bed.
She turns around.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"And why not?" he snaps back.
"You've been out for four days. I didn't think you'd ever wake up," she admits with a hand out in the air.
'Four days....I've been out for four days straight? And she of all people took care of me? Why? I can't trust her...' he thinks, putting a little pressure on his feet. A numb kind of spike shoots through his legs, he flinches and balls the bedsheets in his fists. He makes a face and goes to touch his foot, but ultimately regret that decision. He can't bring his leg up to his hand, it scares him.
"See," she retorts., crossing her arms.
He rolls his eyes again.
"Wouldja knock it off already!"
"I didn't say anything!-"
"You don't have to. You're just that bad, damn-"
The faint sound of some doors closing shut within the castle startles them both. Anxiety forms in the pit of his stomach. "Exactly who's place did you say this was?" Zoro asks in a hushed voice. She shrugs and floats over next to him. "I-I don't know. I thought it was abandoned at first glance, but then, upon further inspection, it looked like someone really was living here, but not home," she explains in a weary voice. She seems scared. 'Did she really not know anyone was living here at first? What does this place look like from the outside?- Nope, that's not my top priority. Who just entered the castle?' he thinks.
Zoro pushes through the pain and the two of them carefully pad out of the small room and into the hallway, that is once the green haired swordsman regains some feeling in both of his legs; still hurts like a son-of-a-bitch.
Zoro hobbles down the cold hallway and down the stairs to see if he can spot where the noise came from. Luckily the concrete floor has a long red carpet running through each hall. The pink haired girl floats close behind. 'Coward. She seemed so full of herself before. Now, she's hiding behind me of all people.' He softly sighs and wonder once more. A spike of pain can be felt in his head. But luckily for him, just as soon as it arrived, it disappeared.
A sudden gust of wind stops them both in their tracks. He was so caught up thinking that he failed to fully take in his surroundings.
They freeze.
"Just who the hell are you two, and what're you doing in my home?" a cold male voice calls them out. Zoro can feel a blade hovering over the back his neck. He recognizes it. "You're the warlord Mihawk," Zoro mutters. "And who might you two be?" The man behind Zoro doesn't back down. The green haired swordsman takes a few steps forward and turns around to face the man; straightening himself up, he places both hands in the air.
"Roronoa Zoro."
"Perona."
"Answer my question," Mihawk demands.
Zoro gulps, "I just woke up-"
"It's true! He's been asleep for four days-"
"So, you've been in my home for four days?" the warlord questions.
They both freeze.
"Uh-um, well, you see- the thing is that we both woke up here not too long ago," she half lies. She's been here for more then three weeks. It's true for him, mind you.
The warlord raises and eyebrow, but doesn't place his sword down.
"Explain," he demands, lowering his sword, but never putting it away.
"There's two large paw print shapes on this island where we both landed. I don't remember much of how I initially got here, and I bet you he doesn't either-" the ghost girl tries explaining.
"Kuma."
"Sorry?" Perona questions.
"Did a large man with a panda hat send you here?" Mihawk questions.
They both nod even though Zoro has no clue as to what happening. He kinda zoned out a little.
Woof
The warlord sighs and drags a hand down his face. He places his sword in its hilt on his back and turns to walk away. "Well," he pauses, "I don't have all day," he calls out to both of them. They look confused, but press on following him. "Where are you taking us?" the green haired swordsman questions. "To my vessel. You're leaving-"
"What?! Why??" Perona whines.
"Because you're uninvited guests, crashing in my home," he explains. Perona hangs her head low as Zoro just stares on. The green haired swordsman stops. "What now, swordsman?" the warlord asks, turning around with a glare in his eyes.
"You don't remember me-"
"I do. I gave you that scar."
"Huh?" Perona gasps.
"Train me," Zoro demands.
"...."
"I'll show you that-"
"No. You're weak and not worth my time-...." Mihawk turns around to see the young swordsman on his knees, begging. Something Zoro never normally does.
Mihawk turns away and sighs to himself.
"In this sorry state, you couldn't even defeat a baboon. I could kill you in a split second," he explains.
Perona 'eeps' and hides behind the green haired swordsman. Zoro places a hand up in defence of her. He doesn't know why he did it, he just felt like he had to.
The warlord walks off. "I'll give you till the end of this day. If you haven't defeated one single baboon, I'm taking you back to wherever the hell you came from." Mihawk gestures with a hand wave in the air, but this sounds more like a threat then a gesture. Perona helps the green haired swordsman to his feet. He brushes her off and pads down the cold hall to the front door, where he won't come back inside until he's defeated at least one baboon.
"Oh-" He stops and turns around. "Where are my swords?" he asks.
She sighs.
-
After handing him his swords, he goes to the front door to defeat all the baboons, but he ends up getting lost on his way to the front door and ends up back in the room he just woke up in. He then asks the ghost girl to help him. "You're hopeless..." she mutters.
-
A couple of hours later, it's already gotten dark out, Perona is awkwardly sits across from the warlord as he sips his red wine and reads a book. The sound of doors opening fills the silent, tense air. Standing in the doorway of the room stands a bloodied up swordsman who falls to his knees in exhaustion.
"Looks like you're too weak, Roronoa-"
"I defeated them all," Zoro simply states with his forehead touching the cool carpet. He pants out, shaking a little from the sudden fighting he was told to do.
Perona gasps in shock.
Mihawk stands up and walks over to the window facing the front. His gaze travels over many carcasses of baboons. He turns back to see the young swordsman still on the ground, begging. He sighs, "stand up……. I'll train you under one condition. You don't disobey my orders," he explains.
Zoro feels a rush of accomplishment.
He thanks the warlord and weakly stands up with the help of Perona.
"Get some rest. We'll start traing in five days. I want you well rested before we even begin to start," Mihawk explains as he takes a seat back in the chair he was sitting in before Zoro came bussin through the doors.
Zoro finds himself about to protest against the long wait, but he decides against it. Padding back to the room he can call his, for a little while at least, he falls onto the bed and closes his eyes. "Get some rest dummy. Don't make me strap you down to the bed..... You know," she starts again, "you like to sleep walk sometimes- it's...weird," he explains with an odd look on her face.
"Whatever," he mumbles, drifting off mid-sentence.
She rolls her eyes and closes the door with a huff. "Un-cute idiot," she huffs through the door, crossing her arms and lifting her nose into the air.
"I can still hear you," Zoro speaks up through the door, startling her. He flashes a smile before promptly passing out.
-
After a few days have passed, the warlord, Mihawk, tells both of them that he'll be away for a little bit. The marines are calling him over to help anyone from reaching Ace. It hits Zoro, Ace is being executed. He wants to go and help, but Mihawk told him to stay put. He tries to plead with the older swordsman, but he's not gonna budge.
When the warlord leaves. Zoro sinks to the ground in defeat and shock.
How could he just sit here and let Ace get executed? Let him die......
Back in Alabasta, it might've just been a one night stand kinda thing, but Ace said that he'd miss him..... 'I'm overthinking it, huh?' He brokenly chuckles out.
He trains his Arminant Haki, but in order to do this, he must drop all other Haki's.....
Perona decides to walk in on one of the best(worst) times possible. "Zoro, you should be in bed-" she stops and screams, flying out if the room in shock. Zoro doesn't pay any mind to it. He's had worse reactions before.....
A few minutes later, the ghost girl comes back and clears her throat.
"What-what are you?" she stutters.
"....Take a guess."
"...."
"What?"
"....You're a demon. I think I've heard that name floating around somewhere."
He shrugs.
"Don't be so rude! Oh right- Get back into bed at least. Don't train on the floor like some animal, you'll end up catching a cold or something," she explains, but he doesn't budge. "Negative hollow!"
A ghost flies through the young swordsman. He sinks his head down.
"I'm sorry that I was ever born- Oi! Knock it off!" he shouts, seemingly in a better mood then before. Well, not really. He's just a little frustrated with what's happening in the world right now.
She crosses her arms and purses her lower lip. "Not until you get in bed," she demands. He rolls his eyes, but ultimately climbs back into bed to train his Haki. "So," he starts, "what do you think of..this?" he implies, glancing over to her with a curious expression. "Um....it'll take some getting used to, but....if you're afraid that I'll be afraid to sleep under that same roof as you- ya got another thing coming!" she explains with a sly smirk. She's trembling a little, but he doesn't pay too much kind to it.
He nods.
The wind outside scares them both. It's howling loudly and furiously.
It's already dark out and Mihawk said that he wouldn't be back for another couple of days. It's just the two of them, that is until the other kills the other one. Haha, just kidding...
Once she leaves the room, he continues to train until the sun comes up on the next day. He's dealt with insomnia before, and lately it's been acting up quite badly. Maybe it's because he's been unconscious for four days? Maybe it's because he hasn't had access to his medications? Or maybe it's the fact that Ace might end up dying?....Who knows....
-
The next little while stays the same.
Perona mainly stays in her room, but occasionally comes out to see how the green haired swordsman is or mainly just to change up his bandages and complain.
After refusing to get some rest, Perona smacks the green haired swordsman on the head. They end up quietly talking about Perona's old crew when they heard a slam.
"He's home early," she mumbles, placing the first aid kit back together and closing the small box with two small
*clicks*.
The two then hear footsteps approaching the door. It swings open and there stands Mihawk covered in blood. They both stare in utter shock. "I've seen your first aid skills on the young swordsman. Do you think you can help me out with something?" he asks, slightly bowing his head.
'He seems desperate. Why? What happened?' Zoro thinks as he stays cross legged on the bed.
"Um, where's your-"
"Not me."
This seems to silence them further.
'Who's downstairs?' the green haired swordsman thinks, slightly looking down. He can sense that there's another presence in the castle.
She nods her head and they head out of Zoro's room, leaving him to wonder what the absolute hell is going on. As he lays down he glances out the window, it looks cold and windy outside. This places seems prone to many storms, greattttttt...... It's the sound that the storms make that he doesn't like. They're loud and scary to watch or think about. He'll never admit those things aloud, mind you.
He slowly finds himself drifting off as the wind dies down for a moment.
*BOOM*
A loud rumble causes him to shake awake violently. Loud sounds and heights have never really been his fortay. As he looks around, outside a large branch hits the side of the castle and the window to Zoro's room. He shakily lays back down wishing that he was back with his crew.
Even when they'd hit a bad storm, Zoro felt comfort in knowing that he had trusted people around him. It's just the fact of knowing which helped guide him through many terrifying situations. But now, he's all alone, on an island with a ghost girl and the greatest swordsman in the world. 'Pathetic....' he calls himself in his head as he wraps himself in his blanket and burrows his face into it.
He eventually drifts off.
-
"....or.....Zoro....Idiot, wake up!" a female voice shouts.
He turns over and sees her face. "Why're you shouting? I'm right here..." he mutters before yawning. "Mihawk said he wants to see us," she states, backing up out of his face. He sits with with an adorable bed head. She thinks it's cute when people first wake up with their messy, out of place hair. It’s out of character for her, but she doesn’t have to like everything ‘perfect’. He lifts his legs to the side of the bed again, this time however, he doesn't falter right away. His legs are still a little weak from not using them as much as he wanted, but he manages.
Stepping out into the hall, he looks both ways.
A loud and frustrated sigh follows behind him.
"I heard you were bad with directions from your sniper back on ThrillerBark. I just didn't think you were this bad," she explains with her fingers on her forehead and her nose in the air with her eyes closed.
"The hell is that supposed to mean?" he snaps.
"Never mind. Lets get going. I'll lead the way."
Zoro shakes his head, but follows her anyway.
The lack of food and water are getting to him a little, but he doesn't let that stop him from reaching where the warlord is. Perona finally stops in front of a large set of door. The green haired swordsman peers into the room and sees the warlord sitting at a desk. She 'humphs' and floats off into the room before him.
"Don't just stand there like a child. Come over here," Mihawk demands.
Zoro does what he's told and pads over to the other side of the room.
"What is it?"
"I take it you two haven't heard anything about what just took place?" he questions.
They shake their heads.
"Read," he instructs, sliding a newspaper over to them. They lean down and begin to read. The paper talks about how a Monkey D. Luffy tried to save his 'brother' Portgas D. Ace, but failed. The whitebeard pirate ended up dying and the whereabouts of the Straw Hats captain is unknown. The fall of Gecko Moria follows suit as well. It also talks about how a bunch of prisoners have escaped Impirial Down and join up to help fight for the young pirates life. Many tried to help, but failed.
When Zoro looks away from the article's, he feels something wet on his face.
He's crying.....
'How embarrassing,' he thinks as he tries his best to wipe his tears away. When he fails at doing so, he turns to leave the room, speeding past the large set of doors and over to his room. He passes it at first, but makes a backtrack and finds it. Shutting the door, he lets out a sob he's been holding in since he started reading. He sinks to the floor with his finger intertwined in his matted hair, he starts crying.
'Pathetic. Pathetic! How the hell could you cry in front of the greatest swordsman?! I'm weak......Ace is dead,' the realization hits him hard as he lets out another broken sob. He covers his mouth as to not be so loud. 'He's gone! He's never gonna come back and it's all my fault! If I had tried to go with Mihawk, I'd at least would've been able to help instead of sitting her like some lost duckling! Dammit!...' he thinks, sobbing out loud while still covering his mouth. It's muffled.
On the other side of the door floats Perona.
Her hand is in the air ready to knock, but she never does. Hearing the strong and defensive Straw Hats first mate talk to her within that past week was really something, but this.....she's never heard of a more broken cry then what’s coming out of that man’s mouth.
It breaks her heart.
He really does sound like he's hurting greatly. She may not exactly understand why, but she'll sure try to cheer him up!
All the while Mihawk watches from his office doors. He smirks and pads back into the room.
-
The next two weeks Zoro trains with Mihawk, losing each time. Perona is always there to cheer him on whether he wants it or not. The young swordsman is persistent and doesn't give up the fight easily at all, but the thing is, he never knows when to quit. He's never been one to call it a day, it was always Kuina telling him to take a break for the rest of that day, or telling him to remember to take care of himself. He tends to forget to do that when something eventful happens.
Mihawk straightens up and turns away from the green haired swordsman.
"That's enough for today. Rest up and we'll meet back in two days. You need the rest Roronoa, don't go against my order," he practically growls before starting to walk away.
"Say, Mihawk," Zoro starts as he brushes himself off from the ground, "Who the hell did that ghost girl treat anyway?" he asks.
"..."
"You're not gonna tell me."
"No. It's none if your business personally, and frankly, why should I? I'm not obligated to tell you anything," the warlord explains.
Zoro sighs.
"Just trying to see who else is here," the green haired swordsman sighs.
The warlord turns away, "Crocodile," is all Zoro gets before the man pads back over to the castle. The green haired swordsman stands up brushing himself off. He ends up limping back to the castle where Perona meets him at the front doors with a first aid kit and a scowl on her face. The two wander to Zoro's room. He slowly sits down on his bed while Perona helps wrap him up, but not before cleaning the wounds.
He winces a little as she disinfects them.
Looking around, he wants to close his eyes. "Oi," her voice breaks the silence. "Don't fall asleep on me. I'm not done yet," she spits with a quieter tone.
He rolls his eyes and almost falls back.
"What did I tell you!" she reminds.
"Sorry," he half heartedly apologizes.
She rolls her eyes.
When she's done, Zoro plops onto his back and lets the drowsiness take over. He trusts the girl enough to fall asleep around her now; it's been around a month after all. She smirks and takes her leave. "....Idiot..." she says with a tiny smirk.
Notes:
Hopefully the next chapter will be out next week, I’ve had a lot going on in the last two weeks, so I apologize in advance if I can’t get it out on time. Hopefully this chapter satisfied your reading hunger. ☺️
Chapter 3: Meeting Someone New~
Summary:
Zoro and Perona share some sweet and tender moments with each other and Zoro meets someone while on a trip away from the island. Who is it? Someone tall and very flirty~
Notes:
This chapter made me smile way too much! It’s a bit longer then my other ones posted so far. I think it’s one of the cutest chapters I’ve written so far, in my opinion. Somewhere towards the end has a little bit of NSFW content, so this is your warning.
Enjoy! 🥰
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Another month has passed. Zoro occasionally sees the former warlord, Crocodile, still wandering around the castle.
'What's his deal?' the green haired swordsman thinks as he pads his way down the hall and over to the bathroom. In his train of thought he manages to get lost. Blinking, he finds that he's ended up at Perona's door by mistake.
Sigh
It’s been a long day of training, so his mind is turning to mush. He doesn't enter the room, instead, he turns around and backtracks his way back to where he thinks that bathroom is. He can find it! I mean- this castle is huge and all, but finding one measly bathroom can't be that hard, right?
Wrong
He ends up at Mihawk's office doors instead of the bathroom. He's accidentally passed it again. How does this keep happening you wonder, it’s Zoro.
Sighing, he frustratingly turns around and begins to walk away, but is stopped when he hears talking. No.....that's not it. '.....!.....' He hears faint moaning sounds coming from Mihawk's office. His eye widen and his heart drops. 'That must be why he's not leaving yet...' Zoro comes to a quick conclusion in his head. Not wanting to stay any longer, he quickly hurries away from the office doors as fast as his legs can take him without full on running in the castle’s halls. Without getting too lost in thought this time, he blinks. He ends up face to face with the bathroom door, almost smacking face first into it.
"Found it," he mumbles aloud.
Just as he's about to go for the doorknob, the door suddenly swings opens, and out walks a pink haired know-it-all. She glares at him as she slowly passes him by, her hair wrapped up in a towel and her body as well, but no, that’s not what caught his attention. He stares at her as she slowly pads down the hall and over to her bedroom door. He rolls his eyes at first, but then stops to take in what he's just seen. 'Why isn't she floating?' he wonders, but doesn't pry on the subject any further. Entering the bathroom, he locks the door and places his towels on the towel rack.
He quickly gets undressed and allows for his Haki to fall.
No wings this time. It's too great of a hassle to take them out every time. Plus, they would get in the way in the bathroom.
Sigh
He washes up and quickly rinses off before getting into the large tub. He allows himself to relax in the hot water, letting his muscles and body to relax even more. He lays his head back on the ledge of the tub before looking up to the ceiling. The heat and steam makes him start to slowly close his eyes, he then gets to thinking about when he'll be able to go back to the Thousand Sunny; about how much stronger he's gonna get and among other things. 'Are Mihawk and Crocodile.....a thing? I mean- it sounded like both of them in there doing hell knows what.' The thought of Mihawk, the strongest swordsman in the world, sleeping with former warlord quickly pops into his mind, but he quickly pushes it out of his head in shock and disgust. He gets a shiver down his spine just thinking about if the man now knows that he knows about his dirty little secret. That’ll be scary if he does.
He sighs and stretches like a cat after a long nap in the tub.
Taking the last few minutes to relax, he allows for his mind to wander. He thinks for a split second that the voice from his sword will just pop into his mind, but it never does. The voice seems to be in the back of his head, and it only seems to present itself when he's touching apart of sword with a part of his body. Otherwise, it's silent and peaceful in his mind, well, to a certain degree.
Making his way back to his room doesn't take near as long as it took him to get to the bathroom. Shutting the door behind him, the swordsman plops his dirty clothes into a hamper. Mihawk's nice enough to allow both him and Perona to stay there, but Zoro still hasn't figured out why yet....
No matter right now.
Before laying down, he slightly opens his window to let some fresh air into his room. He likes the feel of a gentle breeze blowing into the room.
Zoro quickly lays down in his bed and burrows himself under the covers before the cold can completely get to him.
In the castle, it gets a bit cold during the day, but at night- oof, it's even colder. With only the two pairs of clothing on that he wears to bed, boxers and sometimes a t-shirt, it's still cold. As he nuzzles himself into his pillow, he gets to thinking. 'I wonder how everyone else is doing? They're still alive, I hope. I mean, they're all strong individuals, including the scaredy-cat and the witch..... I just wish I could see them all again...' he thinks as he tightens a fist around some blanket.
His heart makes a weird thump in his chest.
He suddenly feels a few tears rolling down his face.
'Pathetic,' he thinks, closing his eyes and drifting off to the sounds of cricket sounds outside. He smiles. Crickets have always sounded nice to him.
—
It's been about three weeks since Zoro's found out about Mihawk's and Crocodile's relationship or what he assumes to be one. He doesn't mention anything nor does he think he ever will to anyone. It's none of his business anyway.
Zoro's still asleep in his bed. It's a slow morning and he doesn't hear anyone moving around outside of his room yet. A sudden gust of wind knocks a few branches into his window, startling him enough to open his eyes. It's still dark out and his window is still ajar. 'Maybe that's why everyone's still asleep?' he wonders, slightly shivering under his blanket and clothing he gets up to kneel next to the window. He reaches up and pops it shut before laying back down.
The nights are the worst sometimes, but the early mornings are nothing to sneeze at either.
Another gust of wind knocks a couple more sticks and leaves into the window; they make softer thudding noises as they hit the glass. 'A storm? This island sure gets really bad weather...' he thinks as he contemplates getting up to get bed another blanket. He ends up doing just that due to the shivering bit leaving his body.
Yes, Zoro's a really warm person by nature. I mean, his body heat is above everyone else's due to all the muscle he's obtained, but this doesn't mean he's warm all of the time. Lately, he's been feeling cold shivers running down his spine, which makes his body feel even colder.
Quickly, laying out the extra blanket on his bed, he hears the sound of something sliding underneath his door.
He turns around.
In the dark, a faint outline of a piece of paper can be seen laying on the floor by his door.
"Huh-"
Another chill envelopes his body.
He quickly struts over to pick it up and bring it back to his warmish bed. He practically dives right into the confides of the bed to gain warmth back in his body and especially his feet.
Snuggling back in, he opens the piece of paper in his hand.
Zoro
I am canceling the week's training sessions due to the rapidly bad weather approaching from the east. Train inside the castle by yourself or with Perona. I will be gone for a couple days on a business accord. Behave yourself.
- M
The green haired swordsman furrows his brow at the note.
'No training outside for an entire week! Training inside means I can't use my swords either!....' he whines in his head. A sudden faint rumbling can he heard not too far away from his location in the castle. His eyes widen as a jolt of fear strikes him hard. He tosses the note somewhere on the bedside table and hides under the covers like a scared little child. He'll never admit this out loud to anyone, but he's afraid of thunderstorms; mainly just the loud sounds they make.
Ever since he was really young, he's lived on his own. Fending for himself is something he had to do quite often. Since he didn't have anyone to take care of him, life was difficult for the longest time. But as life would have it, being alone soon became normal to him. When it came to the point of dealing with scary events, such as storms, he only had himself relay on. This is partly why he is how he is on the Thousand Sunny, he keeps a bit of distance between him and the others due to the fact that he's just not used to relaying on other people yet.
If you recall, Luffy asked him to join his crew, he refused at first. He didn't want to be tied down with a bunch of weaklings, but his crew mates are far from it. He sees it now. They may not all look so tough, but he can assure you, they are. So, that’s a part of why he accepted Luffy’s offer, he sees that he can reply on others.
A small flash of lightning causes him to pull the two blankets closer to hide his face. As he hugs a pillow underneath the warm covers, a louder rumbling can be heard from outside. It feels like it’s shaking the entire castle.
'Don't be this pathetic. You can do this, you're a strong pirate after all. Being afraid of some measly st-'
His thoughts interrupted by a very bright flash outside he can see through the blankets. It lights up the room and the landscape outside. The world outside of the room is all in dismay; trees knocked down, debris fluttering around the air and rain coming down like weights dropping from the sky. This particular storm is very brutal this time around.
His heart drops. He feels like he's frozen in place.
Anxiety over takes his emotions like a title wave.
*BOOM*
Ten seconds later, another loud rumble of thunder sounds like giants trying to stomp on a bug. This one much louder then the last two he's heard in the past thirty minutes.
He covers his ears and hides his face in the pillow as he counts to five. Why does he do this? You see, when he was around seven years old, he was introduced to a dojo, and with that dojo, he found himself some friends. He acted all tough around them, as if he didn't need them or anyone for that matter, but deep down, he really did want someone in his life. He didn't want to be alone anymore, it was just a little too painful going through each day with no one at his side and seeing others who actually have someone. It hurts. So, when an older man, whom he had known to own the local dojo, asked him to join, he didn't want to refuse the offer. This opportunity didn't just come by to everyone, he had to take a chance.
The daughter of his old Sensei's, Kuina, befriended him and helped him train. She somewhat filled the void of loneliness he was looking to fill. Things were scary at first, but he soon got used to them from the help of Kuina. Even if it was just talking and training, it helped him see some light in the world.
The two of them were really great friends and Zoro thought that they'd eventually see each other out on the sea and have a match to determine who'd be the strongest swordsman when they got older.
He was wrong.
She died, but before that happened, she taught him a few tricks you can trick your mind with whenever you're scared.
She could tell he was scared at first when they were training.
Telling yourself you're not scared is one. Counting to five and focusing of your breathing is two. And lastly, she taught him that, whenever he feels really scared to pretend that everything's gonna be okay. Fake it until you make it even if you're scared shitless.
He did this after her death. He remembered almost everything she taught him. He took them to heart.
He didn't morn like everyone else though.
No.
He threw himself into training and when he did eventually stop to take a break, the reality hit him so hard that it made him break down into a sobbing mess for hours each time.
*BOOM*
Another loud rumble sounds like it's getting closer to the castle now. His breath hitches as he tries to breathe.
He starts shaking. His heart won't calm down, he feels like hyperventilating and passing out right then and there.
Even though he's delt with storms on the open sea before, at least the comfort of other people to help keep his emotions at bay when he would too scared to sleep. Just having other people around helped him more then you'd think.
*CRASH*
*BOOM*
This sounds like it's right above the castle now. He shuts his eyes tightly as he presses down on his ears to not allow any sound to travel into them. He feels like crying, but that would mean showing a part of him to the world, seeing how pathetic he can really be. A sudden, but gentle hand on his head makes him jump. The grip on his ears never falters, mind you. The hand starts calmly stroking his hair. 'Who?' he thinks.
He opens his eyes.
".....What're you doing here?...." Zoro asks in a small voice, almost breaking at some points. He can't allow whoever to see that side of him.
"I could hear you whimpering from down the hall," she lies. It’s Perona. She was previously walking past his door when she faintly heard him in his room. Quietly, she went over to press her ear up to the door, inside she heard him crying or whimpering.
This comment makes Zoro look away from her.
Even in the dark atmosphere, she can see that he's been crying. He just has too big of an ego to admit it even though the evidence is literally on his face.
As she continues to stroke his hair, he allows a few tears to silently fall onto his pillow. He's being weak in front of the enemy? No, she's not an enemy....far from being like Nakama on his crew, but not far from trusting her with somethings. They've spent around three months getting to know each other and training with one another. This particular situation doesn't seem all that unusual for them, mind you. Not the crying part, just being able to trust each other.
Sometimes when Zoro would have a rough day with training, Perona would be nicer on him while she would be patching him up; she would also hum a nice tune sometimes. He didn't mind it at all.
Sometimes the comfortable silence they would share while training with Haki was something bonded over. It was something for them.
It's true that Perona's never seen him like this before, but it's not it's gonna stop her from trying to break down some of his stupid walls he puts up for himself.
"You're scared of storms, aren't you?" she softly asks, readjusting her place on the bed.
He doesn't say anything.
He can only nod, afraid that if he opens his mouth, he might just break down in front of her.
She hums, "I used to be when I was younger. You see," she begins. "I used to live in a castle something similar to this old one with my parents; they were never really around…… My father always told me how much of a disappointment I was to him, due to my frail bones and how often I would break them. It really hurt to walk around, but I managed in a wheelchair," she pauses to take a quick breath. Telling this story makes her get emotional…
Her smile fades a little.
"I was never allowed to leave my room when we had guests over. I was only....hmm........eight maybe nine at the time this happened. I really wanted to play outside like all the other kids, but I was stuck inside only to do my studies and whatnot. I wasn't allowed to do anything fun, it would've broken every bone in my body." She halfheartedly chuckles. "My mother used to tell me that......" Her smile fades to a sad stare now.
Zoro notices when he glances back at her from time to time.
He's still covered from head to toe in blankets, the top of the covers covering his mouth but nothing above that.
"One faithful day, I decided to leave my room…. A maid told me to go back and that it wasn't safe for me to be out and about. I.....I didn't listen to her. " Perona looks down to Zoro.
She smiles sadly with the hint of tears in her big eyes.
He can see her face even though it's quite dark still.
*BOOM*
The thunder shakes the entire castle it seems. The poor green haired swordsman flinches like there's no tomorrow. He wants to cover his ears again, but doesn't want to miss the ending of the girl's story. She gently begins stroking his hair again, over his ear this time. Sometimes her mother would do this during a bad storm for her. The sensation is calming in a way, and would help put her to sleep.
Anyway, continuing with the story.
"Shhh. It'll be okay, I know this must seem "pathetic" to you, but I can assure you, being scared of something, everyone is guilty of. It's okay to say you're scared," she softly mentions.
Zoro turns his head to look at her. His eyes were filled with tears, but at this point into this exchange, he didn't care. He couldn't really see her that well anymore, all on account to his teary eyes, but he could see that she was smiling down at him. He trusts her more now.
He understands what's she saying, it's just the opposite of what Kuina used to say in fact.
"Can you finish the rest of your story?" he asks softly in a broken voice.
She smiles a bit brighter and hums a little.
"Of course you big dummy~" she teases. "All right. Where was I?..... Oh! I was sneaking out when my father and an associate of his turned the corner. My father was startled by my appearance and wanted me out of his sight..... For I was no daughter of his..... It was almost like, in that moment, I wasn't even a human in his eyes. He looked at me in pure and utter disgust, like I was some piece of trash that could've been thrown away at any point..."
She stops to collect herself with a ragged breath.
"The next day, I was to be sent packing. He never wanted a daughter nor one that's 'disabled' as he called it, anymore. It's true though, but it still hurt a lot," she whispers. "He didn't need to say it like that- or even at all...."
"It must've hurt a lot by the sounds of it," Zoro pipes in with a low voice. "Even though your parents are supposed to be the ones that love you the most in this world because they brought you into this world, not all of them do-"
*BOOM*
Zoro flinches again.
Perona doesn't say anything more, she just continues to gently stroke the green haired swordsman's hair as he manages to drift off. "Dummy," she mumbles with a smirk.
The thunderstorm still continues throughout the rest of the day, but as the day goes on, it seems to get calmer and calmer.
It's around noon when Zoro's gets out of bed. Him and Perona fell asleep in the same bed for at least a few hours. They don't talk about what happened there.
Perona and him are practicing writing and all of that now. It's not that Zoro doesn't know how to read or write, he just needs some polishing here and there.
Perona hums, "I mean, your words and everything are right, it's just......your formatting isn't the best- no, it's not good at all-"
"Rude!"
"It's true!"
"Well you don't have to say it like that," Zoro mutters out.
The ghost girl sighs and slides another piece of paper over to him.
"Try again."
"Really?"
"Yes. You need more practice-"
"And why do I need to do this, again?"
"You're not listening! Nor are you letting me finish my sentences. Don't interrupt people! It's rude..." she mumbles.
Just as Zoro is about to speak up again, the sound of not far off rumbles can be heard. Zoro tenses and shuts up. He takes the paper and tries again until he thinks it's good enough. "I mean-"
"Now what?" the green haired swordsman grumbles. "You have- you're making progress. We'll try again tomorrow. Now, Mihawk wanted me to to help you with your Armament Haki," she explains with her arms crossed. Zoro groans.
"Oh come on! I can teach you just as well as- well....not just as well as him, but close enough. Plus, don't groan like that! It's not cute," she huffs.
"You're impossible," the green haired swordsman says, getting up and leaving the room. "You don't even know where you're going!" she shouts after him. "You know you don't have to put up these walls again-"
"What walls?" he growls back.
"This morning, even though you were vulnerable, you let me say close to you. You let down some of your wa-“
"Oh-oh shut up!" he shouts in embarrassment. He wishes he could forget this morning. He sighs and stops to wait for her. "Look, Zoro, I'm not sure what you had to deal with growing up, but you don't have to be so closed off all the time! People around you just want to help-"
"Last time someone helped me, I-...never mind. Where're we going anyway?"
Perona finds it weird that he's stopped himself mid rant, but doesn't want to pester him on the subject too greatly. Maybe tomorrow she'll try and ask him about what he was trying to say here? Who knows.
—
A week has passed and the storm's gone. Zoro can breathe easier; at least he's now able to start training outside with Mihawk and his swords again. He's happy about that. Perona still ends up patching him up at the end of almost every training session he takes with Mihawk. Although it's only been around four months since they first got here, Zoro can now successfully say that he can come out every match with the baboons unscathed.
Fighting the baboons aren't a problem for him anymore; burying them and waiting for them to reanimate themselves is a pain though. Good thing they can reincarnate themselves. More practice for Zoro.
—
A couple more months pass and Zoro's getting stronger. His Haki is improving and his skills are becoming far greater then he was when he first started. He's also been training with Perona every second day. It gives him enough 'down time' to heal and learn whilst Mihawk tends to things around the castle. They all have one meal together and that's dinner. Perona and Zoro cook whilst Mihawk sits at the large table waiting to be served. This is a way for the two to pay back the warlord for allowing them to stay with him. The warlord doesn't seem to mind their cooking in the slightest. He himself doesn't cook very often, so this is a nice treat for Mihawk.
The silence fills the air as everyone takes their respected seats.
"Thanks for the meal," they all say in unison before digging in.
"..."
"..."
"....You're improving...." Mihawk breaks the silence with two simple words. Zoro feels like the room is trying to suffocate him. "Wha-what?" he squeaks out, covering his mouth and placing his fork on the table. Perona bursts out laughing and he can see Mihawk is trying his best as to not laugh himself. He flushes with embarrassment at his little squeak.
Mihawk slightly smirks.
"I can tell you're skills are improving. From the day you first arrived here until now. Since you only have a year and about three months left here, I suggest you don't give up."
The words spark something within Zoro. He feels happy and giddy, but doesn't want to outwardly show it because for him, that would be weird...
He nods as he tries to hide a smile. To Perona, the green haired swordsman looks like a happy puppy. It's kinda cute.
"Why're you being so nice?~" Perona teases as she wipes a few tears away from her laughing fit earlier in the conversation. She wiggles her eyebrows at the warlord. The warlord looks away from her with a wineglass hiding his mouth. Her threatening gaze to figure out the truth is something that makes him tense a tiny bit. He suddenly looks back with a glare, she looks away from him and finishes her meal.
After dinner, Zoro and Perona head back into the kitchen to start on washing the dishes.
"You think his relationship with Crocodile has changed him?" the ghost girl asks, scrubbing a dish. The green haired swordsman shrugs. "I suppose I wasn't the only one to notice, huh-" Perona cuts him off with a laugh. "You, you of all people picked up on that??" She can't stop laughing. Zoro rolls his eyes and continues washing off the grime off of the plates and silverware.
After the dishes are done, the two head back to their rooms, but not before sneaking into the warlord's alcohol pantry and taking one singular bottle of what they think is red wine. That's basically all the man has, red wine this, red wine that.
Woof
Perona invites Zoro to her room to hang out or whatever her version of it is. Sometimes it would just mainly be about talking (gossiping) or her wanting to try and do make-up on him. In her opinion, the green haired oaf doesn't look bad in make-up. Zoro can say different sometimes.
"What's the occasion? You never want me to go near your room that often," Zoro explains as he's dragged in. She shrugs and turns away with an evil grin. He can tell she's up to something, but doesn't know what. Once in, she closes the door and floats over to her bed and plops onto it. Zoro rolls his eyes and pads over to her. He pulls up a chair next to the bed and pours her a glass first, him second. He ends up taking a sip out of his glass first and making an odd face she wasn't expecting.
"What? Something wrong? Not your taste or something?" she teases.
He shakes his head.
"Then...what?"
"That's not wine."
"Hmm, what do you mean 'it's not wine'?"
"It's not wine," he says louder.
"What is it then?"
"Strawberry Vodka," he plainly states.
She nods in disbelief. She thinks he's lying, so the ghost girl takes a sip herself to prove him or herself wrong.
'That's really good. It tastes so nice! That man is so rough, why have something like this?' she wonders with a faint warming feeling to her face. "Anyway, what's on your mind? Why talk to 'an oaf like me'?" he questions, mimicking what she said to him earlier in the day. She uses her devil fruit on him. He drops his head to face the ground, "I don't deserve anything...." he sorrows. He lifts his head back up with a clear blush across his face. "Stop doing that!" he demands.
"You're a big dummy," she retorts, sticking her tongue out at him.
Sigh
"For why I called you here," she starts.
Zoro perks up as he takes another sip. He really shouldn't have too much vodka, this stuff tends to get him drunk if he consumes too much. Basically the only thing that really ever gets him drunk.
"You've been pushing yourself into training a little too much. Even Mihawk has noticed-"
"And why're you both concerned? It's not like this is my first time doing something like this." Zoro snaps back before she can finish her sentence.
"Because, if you continue pushing yourself like how you’re doing right now, you might force something out that you don't want...." she trails off.
He hums in confusion.
"And~," he says in a sing-song tone, "what would that be? Are you really not gonna tell me?" Zoro sighs.
"Figure it out."
"That's impossible."
"Why?" she snaps back.
".....it's not that simple to- never mind. Nothing bad is going to happen to me, ya know. You don't need to worry so-"
"But I do! You come back with more wounds then you have answers most days. I haven't known you my entire life, but I'm getting a good idea of what you were like when you were younger," she growls, something she never does. She doesn't like to growl or get angry too often because it isn't cute.
Zoro scoffs and looks down at the dark pink, fuzzy carpet.
Sigh
"Ya know," he starts, "you've now known me longer then my own crew has...." he admits out loud. It's not like he hasn't been thinking about this while he's been here. It's true that he's only known his crew for three months. He's gonna know both Mihawk and Perona for longer now....
'It's working! The alcohol is breaking down his walls....What're you hiding swordsman?' she wonders as she takes another, small sip. Zoro on the other hand pours himself another glass. Classy. Real classy Zoro. *dramatically flips hand in a fruity fashion*
"Interesting," she hums.
She seems to contemplate whether or not to say certain things. This goes while saying that she doesn't want to say too much to lead him on to what she's trying to trick him into doing. Which is telling her about himself more.
"Just say what's in your mind you big oaf. I've already told you about my life," she frets.
Zoro blinks slowly.
He hums.
"Not many people know this," he starts, "but.....I mean, if I'm honest, I can't remember where I grew up," he explains kinda directioning his words in an odd way. Finding and explaining things can be a bit difficult at times when it comes to remembering his childhood.
She frowns.
"What? You're not making any sense, dummy..." she mumbles, closing her eyes in frustration. "I heard you grew up in the East Blue."
He hums in agreement.
"I did. Grow up there. I wasn't born there," he corrects. "I was born somewhere else that I can't seem to remember right now. Right now, as in my life, not right now as in right at this second..... It gets all fuzzy when I try to remember it....." he touches his head lightly.
"What do you remember?"
"..."
"There has to be something..."
"Death, blood, war, people fighting and pink- no, I mean yes," he trips over his words a little.
"Pink?" She looks on dumbfounded.
He nods.
"Blossom trees," he corrects himself.
She makes an 'o' with her mouth.
"Then after that, the village I grew up in is called Shizamoki Village. That's where I met my best friend-friends...." he sadly trails off with a smile. "She was my best friend at the time. I also had another one. His name was Saga. I think he died...." he mumbles the last part. "Kuina died when I was young…. Anyway, one night, after our match had ended, when she was still alive, she spoke up about how her father wouldn't allow her to take over the dojo due to the fact she was female. She wished she could've been born a man instead of a female. I told her," he stops himself entirely.
A few moments pass before he spoke up again.
"I told her to stand up to her father and proclaim her rights..... In hindsight, I don't know if I should've encouraged her, but on the other hand, if I didn't...she might still be alive-"
"But in pain."
"What?"
"From what you're telling me. If she hadn't stood up to her father in some way, she would still be miserable and wishing she spoke up sooner. Yes, she may've died for the truth, but I'm sure in her mind it was worth it," Perona explains, taking another sip of her drink.
By this point Zoro's downed like- almost three glasses.
He's getting drunker by the second.
The green haired swordsman lets out a soft chuckle as he wipes a tear away, "I suppose."
"Have you always been a demon?"
Her sudden question seems to sober him up a little.
He narrows his eyes at her. "Yes. As long as I can remember," he explains with an odd sounding voice. "Why? Scared?"
She shakes her head.
"No, just a little....curious."
He suddenly lets his Haki go, showing her his demonic features. He looks at her with a smug, kinda uncaring look. She sits up and pads over to him to see him in real did the first time. "Does your crew know about this?" she softly asks. He shakes his head, not wanting to make eye contact with her. "Are you ever gonna tell them?" she wonders. He shakes his head again. He isn't thinking clearly because he's drunk right now. Luffy, Nami and Sanji all know and have seen him in his demon form before. Even Ace has seen him in it before. They had a little fun with it too~
She takes a step back and with a pout on her face, she places her hands on her hips.
"Don't be silly! In order for you to fully trust them and for them to fully trust you, you have to show them-"
"No," he responds in a deeper voice. It shocks her at first, but she relaxes. "Your voice is so not cute," she spits. He sticks his forked tongue out like a child as he looks like he's pouting. Her face light up. 'He's- he's pouting?? Is he some child?....it's kinda cu- no, that's scary,' she fights for an explanation in her head.
He puts his features away and sinks into the chair more. His body is beginning to feel a little heavy.
He takes one last sip before he speaks again, "I'm gonna head off to bed-"
"Wait!" She stops him before he can stand up.
"What," he tiredly snaps.
"What about your parents? Where were they in all of this?" she asks.
His facial expression drops to an unreadable one.
"Nonexistent. I don't know either of them. They just- up and abandoned me on some godforsaken island for crying out loud!" he starts raising his voice which he quickly lowers. "Let me spell it out this way. I don't know anything about my family or past or anything of that sort. I had to live in my own for a very long time. It's weird when people try to intervene into it...." he admits as he stands up and walks over to the door. "Better hide that bottle or else he'll know~" he teases with an evil grin before he leaves, shutting the door behind him. She gasps, "why you- ugh!" she groans, plopping down onto her messed up covers.
She slightly chuckles, "idiot."
—
Another few months pass when Mihawk suddenly announces something quite interesting.
"I'm leaving for a couple of weeks on a business accord. Perona, I trust that-"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait."
Both men sigh as they know where this is going.
"Take me with you. Don’t get me wrong- I love it here and all, but I need to get out-"
"Me too," Zoro also intervenes with a slight hand raise.
"No," the warlord answers.
"Why not??" they both say in unison like whining children.
Perona gives Zoro a glare and vise versa at the warlord.
"Why should I? I owe you nothing," he explains. He does have a point though. The two hang their heads low as he tries to make his way to the front door. "Awe~ Hawkeyes, why not let them join us?" a deeper voice calls out in a teasing voice. A larger man steps into the room from somewhere in the castle. Both younger pirates whip their heads over to see the former warlord, Crocodile, padding over to the smaller man. Boyfriend to the rescue~
Both younger pirates get shit eating grins on their faces.
Mihawk sighs deeply.
"Five minutes. If you're not down by then, I'm leaving without you," he growls as he strides over to the front door. Zoro and Perona quickly gather a few things and practically fly down the stairs, well, she does. She ended up redirecting the directionally challenged man down the stairs and over to the front door.
When the two happily get onto the vessel out of breath, Mihawk wishes he could cut them in half. It's like having children you never even wanted and whom just ended up on your doorstep, but in other ways, he's glad for their arrival. He’ll never admit anything of that sort aloud to anyone.
—
It takes a total of four days to get where they need to be. Once there, Crocodile pays the boat fee and they wander onto the island. It's not near as gloomy as the islands they've seen on the way here. It's quiet and peaceful for a village in the new world. Perona tells Zoro not to wander off, but she's too late.
He's gone.
"Dammit!" she curses. Covering her mouth she blushes. She rarely ever curses because it's not cute.
With Zoro. He looks around and tries his best to map out the place, but the cursed blade is mixing everything up again. He hates it when it does that- "omfh- sworey," he accidentally bumps into someone taller then him. As he touches his nose he looks up and nearly has a heart attack right then and there.
The man looks down at him with a glare that could kill.
The man has black hair, a golden earring on either ear, a fluffy looking white hat with black spots and a goatee.
The green haired swordsman flushes and looks away. He apologizes once more before trying to make a break for it, but he's stopped by a hand on his wrist. He turns around with a slightly red nose and sees the taller man holding onto him. He smirks, Zoro flushes a deeper shade of pink.
"I didn't- I wasn't watching where I was going. I-"
"It's alright," the man reassures with a small smirk and a tilt of his head.
Oh fuck him. The man's voice sounds so hot- ugh. He's having too much of a gay panic right now, so he tugs his hand away and makes a break for it, weaving through the crowd of people. The taller man smirks to himself and goes back to whatever he was previously doing.
Zoro's now speeding down the streets, taking a few different turns until he reaches a part of town where there's less people. He leans his back into the concrete wall behind him and tilts his head back closing his eyes. 'Idiot...Wait!-' He quickly opens his eyes remembering where that guy seemed so familiar. The newspaper on that day. A pirate by the name of, Trafalgar something, helped his captain escape from death that day. '3D2Y,' he repeats in his head before feeling a gust of wind next to him.
The taller man is standing right next to him.
Zoro jumps back and reaches for a sword. "Easy," the man says with his hands in the air. "What do you want, and why're you following me around creep?" Zoro accuses. The man he soon comes to know as Law lets out a puff of air. "You dropped this when you took off earlier. I thought you might want it back," he explains, holding out his bag. He flushes with embarrassment again. How pathetic of him...
"Th-thanks," he thanks the man and takes the bag back.
"Say," the taller man starts, "you're Mugiwara's first mate, aren't you?" he asks. Zoro's heart stops. "What?" he mumbles. "He talked about you and his crew quite a lot when I was taking care of him," the man explains. The green haired swordsman blinks in response, he doesn't know what to say.
He nods.
"Roronoa Zoro, right?" the man asks. He wants to make that he's getting it right.
Zoro stops functioning at this point in the conversation. The man's said his full name, and it sounds so good rolling off of his tongue. "Do you mind if I call you Zoro? Or would you prefer something-"
"Zoro's fine!"
"I see. I'm Trafalgar Law, you can call me Law," the taller man takes Zoro's hand and shakes it. Zoro's so transfixed on the man's golden eyes that he doesn't notice when his name's being called.
"Idiot, Zoro! Get over here! Don't just wonder off like-...." Perona shuts up due to the scary man the green haired swordsman's with. She flattens her lips into a straight line as she blinks unknowing what to say next. "Ah- what're you doing here?" Zoro snaps still holding onto the taller man's hand. "Looking for you! That's what... Come on, I got us a hotel for the two weeks. Your last few days you'll have to find a place to stay," she snaps, turning the corner to leave.
He starts freaking out.
"I-I've gotta get going. Nice-nice meeting you, Law," the green haired swordsman tries his best as to not stutter so much, but he fails horribly at it, embarrassing himself further. The green haired swordsman quickly darts off after her. He finally catches up with the ghost girl. She looks mad from what he can tell.
"Per-"
"No," she snaps, interrupting him.
"I don't know what happened. I was next to you one second, but the next so was-"
"With some hottie in an alleyway? Uh huh, ya ok Mr. Man-Magnet," she scoffs.
He blushes and tries swatting at her. He misses and gets a ghost through him. "I wish I wasn't so-" he covers his mouth before he can finish saying whatever the hell he was going to say. She turns around with a curious eye. "What were you about to say?~" she teases with an evil grin. He tries cutting her again, but misses, again. She sends another ghost after him.
"I wish I didn't like guys..." he mumbles.
He brushes himself off and angrily stomps off past her and into the lobby. She stops and stares at him. 'He's gay?!' She can't believe it! The man's gay and why hadn't she picked up on this earlier!! How silly of her.
In the room that night, she sleeps on the opposite side of the room as him. Yes, she has enough money for two rooms, but if they want them stay there for two weeks they'll have to share a room. Now that she knows he's gay, she can relax a little.
"Zoro," she calls out.
"..."
"Come on, answer me."
"..."
"...Zoro, I'll use my negative hollow on you again if you don't answer me."
"..."
"I know you're awake, dumb-"
"What?" he suddenly growls out, startling her a little.
She sighs.
"Why didn't you tell me you like guys?"
"..."
"Seriously, I thought we were past this."
"Past, what?" he mimics.
"Not telling each other things."
"..."
"You know what, I'll tell you a secret of mine."
"..."
"I'm bi."
He hums with his back still turned.
She lays back down with a tired sigh. She wishes he would tell her why he's so mad. Is it because she used her negative hole on him and that came out? She sighs again.
"Stop sighing," he blaintingly mentions. "It's not something I chose to feel, okay?"
"..."
He lightly sighs, "it's just, I don't find women romantically attractive. That doesn't mean I don't find them attractive, I'm just not- into them like that," he explains.
She thinks she gets it now.
She giggles.
"What's so funny?" he snaps.
"You're funny sometimes. The way you acted towards me catching you with that man in the ally-" she softly snorts. He finds himself smiling at that. "I was a blabbering wreak before you got there."
She giggles louder.
"He probably thinks I'm some idiot-"
"You can be though," she mentions, smiling into her pillow.
He rolls his eyes and scrunches up his nose before turning to lay on his back.
"Get some sleep. We'll need it for tomorrow," he softly demands. She nods and they both soon find themselves drifting off to the faint sounds of talking outside and the wind softly whistling through the walls.
A week have passed and Zoro's been trying his Haki in the bath constantly. Once he's done with the bath, he heads out of the hotel for something to eat. Perona's shopping and he didn't want to join, so he decided to stay behind at the hotel. When he leaves down the street, he runs into the taller man again.
"Ow-" he groans, rubbing his nose.
"Is this how we're going to meet everytime?" Law jokes with a colder tone hidden under his fake smile. Zoro can tell, but he smiles anyway. "Uh, what're you doing today?" the green haired swordsman asks, looking up at the tall him whom seems to have stopped working. "Law?"
"Sorry. What did you say?"
"I asked if you were busy today..."
The taller man looks up to think. He looks back and shakes his head. "Not really, no. Why?"
Zoro didn't think he'd get this far. He pauses and stumbles over his words, "I was um, just wondering is all," he admits with a hand to the back of his neck. Law nods. "Where's your pink haired friend?" the taller man asks as they begin walking in a direction. "She's out shopping," he admits. Law nods. "So, I take it that you didn't want to go?"
Zoro nods.
"I see..... Are you hungry?" he asks.
Zoro chuckles and nods, "kinda."
"Where do you wanna go?"
"Huh?"
"My treat."
"A-are you sure?" the green haired swordsman asks looking up to the man. Law nods.
Zoro looks around and points out a small café. Law nods and they pad over to the building. They have a chat about what happened at the end of the battle at Marine Fort and after. Also how the green haired swordsman's captain was severely injured and how Law saved him. Zoro's head was down the entire time. He still wishes that he could've been there for his captain, and Ace but yet again, he was stuck on an island with a ghost girl and the warlord Hawkeyes. "I know this is a lot to handle-"
"...Thank you..."
"Pardon?"
Zoro lifts his head and Law can see that his eyes are glazed over.
"Thank you for helping my captain. I'm not sure what he would've done if you weren't around. If there's anything at all you want me to do to repay his-
"No need."
"What?"
Law smiles.
"I said there's not a need for it. I wasn't expecting anything in return anyway.” Law slightly shakes his head.
Zoro blushes and suddenly feels like an idiot for almost crying. He quickly wipes his eyes and looks back at the surgeon. "Zoro-ya." The nickname drives the green haired swordsman into a frenzy. His eyes widen when he sees the pink haired idiot floating by. She gives him a look of ‘busted’ and he glares back. Law gets the hint and turns around. She quickly floats up higher and out of sight. Law chuckles and turns back to Zoro. "Thank you for spending this time with me," Law says with a faint hint of teasing in his words.
He pulls out some Belis and leaves them on the table. With one last glance down at the swordsman, he leaves. Not through the door, but with his devil fruit power he mentioned earlier. A warm feeling overtakes his face and he finds himself blushing again. 'Geez, idiot.....What were you thinking??' he internally scolds himself as he sinks into his chair with a flushed face.
—
Later that week, he sees Law more frequently in town. The surgeon and him spend most days together, getting closer. Neither are romantics, but Zoro's trying to give the man hints, but Law seems to be as dense to love as he is to directions. Sometimes when they're out, the green haired swordsman notices some people in white jumpsuits following them. Not to brag, but he's pretty good at picking up where people are in the area around him. His observation Haki isn't the best in the world, but it keeps him alive at least. I mean, after all, he was a pirate hunter.
When a polar bear shows up in an orange jumpsuit, he stands there, beside Law, dumbfounded and curious.
Law deeply sighs and drags a hand down his face.
"Who-"
"My crew," he plainly states.
Zoro blinks and slightly nods biting the inside of his cheek.
Law doesn't have any words like he usually does in situations such as these.
"Your crew," the smaller swordsman mimics in a way.
"Shit- you idiot! He's gonna kno-.....Hi cap.” A man in a white jumpsuit with ginger shoulder length hair and an odd looking hat on, falls out of a tree and lands on the ground with a loud
*THUD*
noise.
He's followed by two others, the polar bear from earlier and another guy in a white jumpsuit, but with a hat that says 'penguin' on it. Zoro smirks. "Sorry captain, we just wanted to see how your date was going," the polar bear admits with his head down.
Zoro's facial expression drops and he blushes with his lips pressed into a straight line, he looks away from the group on the ground.
Law tips his hat down.
"Room," he calls out with his hand in the air and a blue bubble thing makes itself bigger. Zoro turns back to watch as the bubble covers all of them. "Wait!" One of them screams in terror. "We-we-we didn't mean- Bepo!" the two men seem to shout in unison before they all disappear into thin air.
"Huh..."
"I'm sorry about them. They have over active imaginations," Law 'admits' more like lies.
Zoro sees right through it and turns to look at the man. Law's face is turned away and his hat is blocking the view of his face. The green haired swordsman reaches down and holds Law's left hand in his hand. The surgeon seems to freeze under the touch of the younger swordsman. "Law," he starts, "I.....I like you," Zoro says slowly and quietly as he looks towards the ground. He finally got the courage to say his true feelings.
Law squeezes the swordsman's hand and turns down to look at him.
'He's....he's blushing??! Huh?? Was it something I- oh,' he thinks as Law takes his free hand and caresses Zoro's face with his thumb. This moment is perfect, and the green haired swordsman wants nothing to ruin it. Each others lips feel like fire as they leaned into each other's face's, but then a sudden squeal startled them enough to pull away from each other.
"Zoro!~" Perona teases from a far in a loud voice.
Zoro's face flushes with embarrassment that he's been caught.
"Sh-sh-shut u-up!" Zoro horribly stutters out as she laughs at him. He lets go of Law's hand and says his goodbyes before he chases down the ghost girl. Law watches in astonishment as the two act like little children chasing each other around. He chuckles to himself before turning to walk away, the feeling of the green haired swordsman lips tingle on his. He smiles, but it's abrupt due to the reminders of his crew. He sighs and ports back to his ship.
"I didn't think you had it in you!" Perona shouts in amazement with a huge smile on her face as she floats around the jumping swordsman. "Why're you here??" he growls up at her. "Well~ I was walking by when I seen you two in the park and thought that I should intrude, but wait till after you humiliated yourself- hahahah!" she laughs out as she sends a negative hollow down.
"I'm sorry that you saw that- knock it off!" he shouts as he jumps up to swat at her.
He gives up and strides off towards the street.
"Where're your going?" she snickers out.
"Back to the hotel," he growls.
"You're going the wrong way, dummy~" she teases with a shit eating grin. He flushes even more and does a one-eighty all the while mumbling to himself. She follows close behind to make sure he gets back alright. Although they don't get along most of the time, doesn't mean they can't. They can, it just takes time and if it's the right moment.
Back at the hotel, Zoro immediately heads straight for the bath. He doesn't want to be in the same room as the ghost witch right now.
As he gets relaxed in the warm water, he ends up letting his mind wander. He wonders if he'll ever get to meet Law's entire crew at some point. He sighs as he tilts his head back to look up at the sky above. There's a skylight in the bathroom if you're wondering. They're also on the top floor. It's getting darker and he thinks he hears someone in the bath talking about an approaching storm. A strike of fear almost sends him into an attack. 'No. Not again. I refuse!' he thinks as he furrows his brow at the thought. He sinks himself into the warm water until his mouth is hidden under it.
Later that night, he can't sleep. He can't stop thinking about that upcoming storm. Will it pass right over here? How bad is going to be? What's gonna happen if he's out by himself and it suddenly starts up?? Too many thoughts fill his head as he worries himself into an anxiety attack. He starts quietly, breathing harder and it feels like the whole room is spinning to make it worse. His heartbeat is rapidly beating in his chest as he clutched at his futon.
A hand on his head stops the tears from falling.
"Breathe, remember what I told you?" Perona whispers.
He nods.
"Everything's gonna be okay." She gently strokes his head as he drifts off into unconsciousness. 'Geez ya big oaf. Always causing me problems, huh?' she thinks.
It was only a couple days later that the storm finally approached. The men in the bath were right, a weather warning is introduced and Zoro feels like curling up into a ball and hiding away from the world. It's pathetic, he knows this.....but for both of them, their luck has run out. Today's their last day in the hotel. They have to clock out before noon or else they'll have to pay for another night.
As Perona checks them out, Zoro can't help but fidget.
She notices this.
They quickly head out before it gets too serious.
On their way to find a new place to stay for the next four days, Perona notices the lack of a person. She turns her head around and doesn't see the swordsman. She spins around and still, she can't find him. Her heart races in worry for the idiot. 'Shit! Holy fuck idiot! Where are you??!' She hates even thinking about such uncute words, but the green haired idiot is gone. The wind suddenly picks up and she's forces her to stay at a shitty motel off the Main Street. "Please be safe you dummy," she mumbles as she closes the window to her new room. She worries about him all night long.
"....or.....oro.....Zoro....Zoro-ya. Can you hear me?" His hearing suddenly kicks in and he sits up in a frenzy, looking all around and breathing harshly. But a sharp pain fills his head, his eye... A pair of hands hold him still. "Zoro-ya, it's me. Breathe," the man in front of him reassures. Zoro's breathing becomes slower as he calms down some. He's still shaking like crazy, mind you. He can't see out of his left eye, so he's holding it. "What-" he tries to ask out of breath from his hyperventilating earlier. "Bepo found you passed out on the street, so he brought you back to the Polar Tang," Law explains, letting his tight grip on the swordsman's shoulder loosen.
Law turns away and ushers with a hand for his crew out of the room so they can talk.
Zoro gulps as he looks around. "What happened- what happened to my- eye?" he mutters out almost on the verge of tears. "He found you like that. Your face was covered in blood and you had a large gash across your eye," the surgeon explains.
Zoro nods fearfully.
"I fixed your eye for you, but you'll never be able to see out of it again.... The wound is much deeper then what the scar it's going to leave," Law explains.
Some silence enters their conversation. Then it hits Zoro. Wait! Is he on a bed? Is he on Law's bed??
She feels his face heating up. He almost completely forgot about the storm outside.
"What the hell where you doing out there?" Law accuses. Zoro feels tiny for some reason, kinda like he's a little kid being scolded for running out in the rain without a jacket on. "I-um, our room," he starts, "Perona and I's room was up today, so it was either, pay for another night there or leave. Perona didn't want to pay for another night in that hotel so, we were just gonna find a motel or something for the night. But....the storm picked up and we-" he lightly chuckles, "got separated," he admits, breathing slightly picking up again.
Law looks at him in amazement of how the stubborn swordsman's still alive. The scar on his torso proves how he can make it out of almost everything...
Law sighs.
"Where is this?" the green haired swordsman asks, looking around the room. He thinks he already knows the answer, but he wants clarification. "My quarter's," Law admits with a hint of restraint in his words.
The sounds of rain can be heard hitting the metal roof of the submarine. Even though they seem to be on the very bottom level or somewhere in the middle. It's a little hard to tell.
Zoro's still tense and holds his hand into a fist not visible to Law. He doesn't want to show the surgeon his fear. Too late for that, mind you. Law knows. He can see right through the green haired swordsman.
Just as Law opens his mouth, a very loud thunder rumble causes everything to shake. Zoro covers his ears and shuts his eye tightly as the sound goes on for at least ten seconds. He isn't sure...
*BOOM*
A gentle touch makes him flinch.
Now he's done it. Law's gonna think he's weak and not wanna be with him anymore- he's gonna want him to leave and-
"Zoro-ya," a soft whisper like voice calls out to him as he feels Law's arms around him. "Perona told me everything. Breathe, please." Law's voice is softer then normal and it seems to calm him a little. He at least opens his eyes and unfolds his hand from a fist. A few tears roll down his face.
*BOOM*
Another loud rumble makes him helplessly cling onto the surgeon for comfort. Law isn't the best at comforting people, so he pats the swordsman's back as the man's breathing comes back down from a sharp breath to a softer one. He can tell that the green haired swordsman is crying due to the way he was breathing.
Law helps Zoro into his bed and under the covers after the green haired swordsman fainted in his arms. 'He was really that scared, huh?' Law thinks.
The surgeon stays next to the bed, stroking the green haired swordsman's hair as he stares at the young male.
Anyone with eyes can see that these two hopeless idiots are in love, but they just don't exactly know it themselves...yet.
When Zoro slowly wakes up, he sees a hunched over Law in a chair. He smiles and sees that the, quote on quote emo doctor, is drooling with his head laying on his arm on the desk. 'Cute,' the green haired swordsman thinks as he sits up with a stretch. Feeling nauseous and rather dizzy, he leans on his right hand for support. He takes a few seconds to collect himself. Swinging his legs to the side of the bed, he wearily stands up and quietly pads over to the softly snoring surgeon.
He wobbles from side to side due to the fact he he's not used to seeing out of only one eye.
"Law~" Zoro softly calls out in a sing-song tone of voice.
The surgeon's head falls off of his arm only for him to quickly catch it and straighten up like he's been awake for hours. He looks down and wipes his mouth when he notices the drool.
"You know," Zoro starts, "you're quite cute when you're sleeping~" the green haired swordsman teases before standing up and smiling. He feels faint and his legs give out, Law's quick to catch the man in his arms.
Zoro's eye flutters shut for a moment before opening back up again. The green haired swordsman pats the surgeon's shoulder and fully stands up. "I'm fine. Just….a little dizzy," he admits. He wobbly pads over to the other side of the room.
"When do you think the storm's gonna clear up?" Zoro asks, placing his hands on the opposite arms and rubbing up and down as if to warm himself up. Law doesn't seem bothered by how cold the room is. Yes, the man's always cold, he's like a walking freezer most of the time, but doesn't seem to actually get cold. Zoro on the other hand gets cold even though he's a walking sauna.
Law stretches and stands up with a small groan.
Zoro finds himself staring a little.
Law looks over and tilts his head to the side with a faint smile. Zoro looks away and stays put. The surgeon pads over and drapes a blanket over the smaller man's shoulders and wraps his arms around the green haired swordsman's waist with another light groan. Zoro thinks he's died and gone to heaven.
"You hungry?" Law mumbles with his head on the top of the smaller swordsman's head.
The feeling of the surgeon's hands on his waist feels nice and stuns him for a moment. "Um, a little bit..." he hazily admits.
Law pulls away and tells him that he'll meet him in the kitchen. "You'll hopefully find your way, Zoro-ya. It's hard to get lost in here."
"I bet I'll find a way," Zoro jokes before leaving the captain's quarter's and heading up the stairs to the first floor. He hums and looks around. 'Shit! Where am I? Ya right, "find my way around" my ass. The walls feel like they're moving! This is too confusing!!' he thinks, turning his head from side to side.
A hand on his shoulder stops him from spasming out.
"Roronoa, you're lost aren't you?" a teasing voice questions. He freezes with a faint blush on his face. He's been caught...
"Um, no," he lies.
It's an obvious lie on his part, even Law's crew member can see through it. The man chuckles and pats him on the shoulder a few times before heading past him. "If you're not lost then you wouldn't mind if I just-"
"Wait!"
'Gotcha!' Shachi thinks.
"Come on. Breakfast is in ten."
"Do you want me to help out with anything?" the green haired swordsman offers as he slowly follows behind the crew member into the kitchen. "No need. You're the captain's guest after all~" the red haired man teases while wiggling his eyebrows. He kind of reminds Zoro of their navigator. Just in the way he acts sometimes, kinda sneaky and teasing like just like how she is.
A chill runs down his spine.
"Come sit, Roronoa!" the polar bear calls out. Zoro finds himself smiling and padding over to the polar bear and sitting next to him. "Is it okay for me to sit here? I'm not gonna be in the way?" he asks being a little more aware of his surroundings for some odd reason. The polar bear shakes his head. "You'll be fine here. I'm Bepo by the way. The one who came in before you is Shachi," Bepo explains.
Zoro nods.
"Bepo's the captain's first mate," another crew member ponders in.
"I'm Penguin. Nice to finally meet you properly this time," Penguin jokes as he sits across from the two.
'Interesting...' the green haired swordsman thinks as he stares down the penguin man.
"If I may, how did all of you meet Law?" Zoro asks, readjusting his blanket Law placed on him earlier. He's trying his best to fight the nausea he's been feeling from the moment he first woke up. Bepo notices the blanket and smiles cutely. Robin would be in awe at the cute polar bear.
Shachi clears his throat, "well, we were minding our business when our idiot captain, at the time, w-"
"What about an idiot captain?" Law suddenly appears in the doorway of the kitchen. Everyone freezes and turns away from him. Shachi, oh Shachi, you shouldn't have said anything. Law pads over and decides to let it go. It's too early in the morning for fighting and bickering. He sits next to Zoro and yawns.
"Have a long ni-" Penguin smacks Shachi on the back of of his head before the pea brain can say anymore. Penguin smiles and places a few plates in front of everyone. "Shachi and I weren't the nicest of people back then, and I do regret what I did to Bepo," Penguin explains as he turns to bonk Shachi on the head again for trying to steal food when it's not ready yet.
"We both do," the red head pipes in.
"Our captain earned our respect by saving us from bleeding out. I wouldn't have an arm if it wasn't for him," Penguin explains with a smile, remembering the time when they first met Law. "Honestly Roronoa, he's a good person at heart, he just may seem a little scary at first." When Penguin's done explaining, the rest of the crew files in. Law grumbles hearing all the loud commotion, but doesn't verbally protest on being there. Law would normally eat in his room or not at all. The man forgets to eat sometimes too.
As the day comes and goes, Zoro finds himself staring at the night sky. It's still quite cloudy and reception is utterly horrible, but he doesn't mind getting to know Law's crew. It's kinda fun and it brings him back to when his crew mates and captain would bicker and love each other like a family. He misses them and it hasn't even been a full year yet.....two years is too long to wait to see them again...
A few stray tears rolls down his cheek as he sits in the captain's quarter's with his head resting on his arm. His feels a wetness in his bandage on the left. He honestly didn't know he could still produce tears from that eye. He hasn't seen the wound yet, so he can't determine anything for sure, but he guesses that he still has a tear duct if the bandage is getting wet.
The door closing makes him jump and quickly wipe away his tears.
"The storm should clear up enough by tomorrow morning-....What's wrong?" Law questions.
Zoro holds up his hands in a defensive matter, "nothing. Your crew's quite amusing and cheerful," Zoro changes the topic. Law looks away and fixes his hat in the process. The surgeon hums and pads over to his desk. He sits down in the spiny chair and lays his head back on the wall behind him. Moments later he feels something on his thighs and a pair of arms around his neck.
He opens his eyes and looks down to see the green haired swordsman sitting on his lap.
There's something in the younger swordsman's eye that's telling him how much he cares. Words aren't Zoro's thing, that's Law's thing; actions is more his touch, but in that moment, Law hears a thousand words being spoken from the smaller swordsman. The surgeon pulls the green haired swordsman closer and kisses him softly. It's a tender moment and both of them are enjoying themselves.
Zoro feels like he should pull back for air, but he doesn't want to waste a single second of this hot man on his lips. As the kiss turns into a make-out and Law licks Zoro's lip making him slightly shiver. As if asking for entrance, he licks again. Zoro opens his mouth and they explore each other's mouth's.
At some point in their make-out, Law trails some fingers up the smaller swordsman's back earning him a pleasant sound that comes from the green haired swordsman. As the surgeon touches Zoro's back, the green haired swordsman finds himself slightly arching his back while grinding his hips down on the man's thighs slightly.
Law notices.
He breaks he kiss for both their sakes.
As they sit there panting like dogs, Zoro plants a soft and meaningful kiss on the surgeon's cheek before getting off of the man and plopping himself into Law's bed. Zoro looks tired. Law turns around in his chair as he covers his face. He's made out with a few women and two men before, but it's never left him like this. His heart beats like crazy as he shamefully feels a tent forming in his pants.
When the surgeon turns around, the smaller swordsman is already sleep, softly snoring away.
Not wanting to wake him up, he quietly pads to the bathroom and locks himself in. He starts a cold shower despite hating them, and hops in to help his problem. It's not going down....so he turns the water on warmer as a hand travels down to his problem. As he strokes himself he imagines Zoro-ya riding him. He wants so badly to try things with the smaller swordsman, but doesn't want to push too much and scare him off.
So, in the meantime, he'll just have to play by his lonesome.
—
The next day rolls around and he wakes up right next to the green haired swordsman. He didn't mean to fall asleep in the same bed, but he was just so tired. He wants to give the swordsman a comfortable amount of space before anything in this relationship of theirs goes further.
Zoro's been awake for at least an hour, he just didn't want to move. Being this close to someone feels really nice. It's warm and comforting having someone this close instead of being alone at night like most nights on Kuraigana island are. He suddenly feels Law stirring behind him, he doesn't want the surgeon to leave, so when he feels the arm around him leaving, he sleepily turns around and pulls the surgeon closer to him being mindful about his wounded eye.
Zoro feels the taller man freeze beneath his touch, his cuddle.
"Zoro-ya." Law sounds demanding in his morning voice. Zoro finds it oddly attractive~
The green haired swordsman hums, but doesn't open his eyes.
"I think we should get up-" The surgeon cuts himself off via a yawn. "-now," he finishes his sentence. Zoro finds himself yawning too. He cat stretches off of Law and rolls over to sit up in bed. Law blushes, but quickly turns his head as to not allow the swordsman to see.
They both get ready for the day and head out. Zoro hears some faint snickers before silence enters the room. He looks over and sees Penguin, Shachi and Bepo waving at him. He waves back with a faint smile as he takes his stuff with him to find Perona.
A little while later, they end up meeting up with Perona. Zoro says his goodbyes and waves off Law. The ghost girl looks on in horror. "The ever loving hell happened to your eye?!" she shrieks. He shrugs, "don't know. I just woke up like this." The conversation goes dead after that. She scoffs.
On the walk, Zoro thinks. He isn't sure what to call them at this point. I mean, they've had a couple of dates, he's met Law's crew and they've kissed more then once.... Zoro blushes at the memory.
Perona notices that the green haired idiot is zoning out.
She giggles evilly and decides to pester him for worrying her.
"So~," she starts, "how was spending time with Law?~" she teases as she pokes his cheek. He flushes and tells her to shut her pie hole. She laughs at his reaction and he grumpily stomps over to Mihawk. "Where's Crocodile?" Perona asks, floating beside the green haired idiot. "He has some important business to attend to. He's not coming back with us. Now, hurry up before you're left behin-........" the warlord announces, stopping to stare at the green haired swordsman's eye. He chooses to not say anything about it.
Both 'children' as Mihawk calls them, squabble as they get into the boat.
He finds it quite amusing, but doesn't laugh or even smile.
"Simpletons," he mutters as he pushes the boat off.
"What did you call me?" Perona shouts with her finger in the air. He turns back and glares at her. She shuts up and sits back down. Zoro watches as the island becomes smaller and smaller. He's gonna miss the Surgeon of Death's comfort and presence..... "Till we meet again..." he mumbles under his breathe.
Mihawk slightly turns his head to the side to glance at the green haired swordsman, he somehow understands what the young swordsman is going through. He's also leaving behind a lover....
Notes:
I hoped you liked this chapter. 😁 See you in the next one.
Chapter 4: Author's Note
Chapter Text
Sorry, no chapter this week. I've been really busy with school and life lately. I applied for a job, so I'm just waiting to hear back from them (hopefully). There will be a chapter next week though! 😊 Until next time.
Chapter 5: Working Things Out
Summary:
This chapter mainly contains angst and fluff. Law and Zoro meet back up and have a chat 🤭😉
Notes:
Hey, guess who’s back?? Me! Lol. This was a bit of a shorter chapter this time around, but it’s still wholesome. There are some bits on angst in here, but then it gets cute <3
Enjoy!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It's now been a year since Zoro's been training with Mihawk. The first time Mihawk and Zoro trained, the warlord barely lifted a finger, but lately the young swordsman has been putting in more effort into his strikes. Zoro is getting stronger and Mihawk is noticing it. He's also noticed something off about the young swordsman from when they first trained together. Some weird aura is surrounding the green haired swordsman that Mihawk isn't sure what it is. The warlord makes sure to keep an eye out, he can’t let his guard down.
Perona has also noticed something off with the green haired swordsman.
He's been healing a little quicker then normal and the scar over his eye is already looking like he's had it for awhile. It's starting to freak her out a little, but she'll never admit it out loud because she still isn’t sure about anything yet.
Zoro huffs as he stands, thinking about his next move against the warlord. The baboons are nothing to him now, so he needed something, more like someone much stronger. "Roronoa, watch your footing," the warlord mentions. Lately he's been giving more tips to the young swordsman. Mihawk is actually being nice? Mihawk? Zoro doesn't believe it, but the proof is right in front of him.
He takes a step and everything goes black. He isn't sure what happened, but when he eventually woke up, Perona was right beside him.
"You're finally awake...." she says in a low and lifeless tone.
He blinks and looks over to her with his one good eye.
She isn't making eye contact.
"What-....happened?" he rasps out. His voice sounds terrible. What happened to him?....
Silence fills the space of his room.
The faint sound of birds chirping is all that can be heard.
"Per.....p...Perona," he struggles to say. She looks down even further into her lap, letting her long pink hair cover her face. When she finally looks up, after a few seconds, she has tears streaming down her face. He's stunned into silence.
"You idiots," she mumbles, "both of you could've gotten killed. What were you thinking?!" she shouts. He can see the pain in her eyes. "...wha...t-"
"Don't get me started," she growls. He knows he's fucked. "You really don't remember, do you?" she asks for a second time. He shakes his head, but stops to gently touch his neck after feeling the tension in it. Soreness is a feeling that takes over his body.
"Near the end of your battle with Mihawk, you....." she trails off.
He looks on in a confused matter.
'Just spit it out already, ghost witch,' he complains in his head.
She deeply sighs, "you...... You went full on demon mode on him. You managed to cut up his arm pretty badly, I thought it was going to tare off..." she mumbles. "Your eye," she sighs again, "Mihawk cut your eye again, I mean, not again for him, but you got your eye hurt again," she sputters out. "Dummy!" she shouts as she uses her devil fruit.
He grimaces.
She gets up in a huff and leaves him alone.
Yet again, his left eye is in shambles.....Wait, what? "My....eye is gone...." he blaintingly states. He brings a hand up to his eye and presses down on the bandage. It sinks a lot further then before. He feels a large weight on his chest. He can't breathe. How is he supposed to help Luffy, the crew, everyone?? He's too weak and they won't want to take him back!
He quickly sits up and lets out a frustrated sob.
"...no, no, No!" he shouts, tugging on his hair. Great, he's getting the cook's bad habits.
'This can't be happening! This can't be happening!! I'm pathetic, weak, worthless. I'm a monster who only ends up hurting instead of healing. Kill me.....?' The thought crosses his mind. Why did he think that? Does he really want to die? Dammit....
When Perona comes back to check on him, she finds him staring it the window, looking rather lifeless... She thinks back to a time when she seen him like this before. It was a week after he had first woken up here, the same week he found out about his captain injures and his captain's brother death. Something in him shut down. He stopped talking, barely ate and slept, he had the darkest circles under his eyes...... It broken her heart to say the least.
She slowly floats in and places a plate of food on the dresser. He doesn't even turn his head to acknowledge her.
She clears her throat, "hey," she calls out. "Are you feeling any better?" she offers. No response, no movement. "What's wrong?" it's a dumb question for an answer she already knows, she just wants to hear it from him first. "Nothing," he blaitingly responds.
"You don't have to shut me out, you know. I'm not gonna shun you away if that's what you're worried about," she explains. "Have you slept at all?"
"..."
"Zoro."
"How badly did I hurt him?"
"...."
"Perona," he growls.
"He'll be fine. It honestly wasn't too bad at all, there was just a lot of blood- mainly from you and your eye- face, I mean......... He just had a few scratches."
The only response she gets in a simple hum from him.
She floats out of the room and comes back about ten minutes later. This time, he turns his eye to the door when she slowly pads in. He furrows his brow at how weird she's being. As she sits on the edge of the bed, he looks at her. As if a light switch is turned on, he gets it now. "Why? You mentioned that it was quite painful for you to move around with your actual body. So, why?" he wonders.
She tiredly smiles.
"Because you big dummy, I don't want you to suffer alone. Trust me. We've now known each other for a little over a year now. So, all I ask is for you to trust me," she explains. He nods and sits up. "I just.......miss them is all," he barely whispers out. "And if I get like that again- What am I to them? A monster? A freak? Something to be afraid of? What???" he breaths out with strain in his voice.
"But you're not a mons-"
"I am!"
"You're not!"
"Why? How am I not?? Perona….”
"Because everyone is someone in this world, whether it be fishman, human, bird, whatever! It doesn't matter cause this whole world we live in is filled with weird things and even weirder people. Believe me, you can overcome this depress-"
"Tch. Well stop, stop believing in me. It's not like we're actually Nakama," he spits in a fit of rage. She knows he doesn't mean it, he's just angry.
When Moria-sama found her, he was angry, but not at her; at the world for rejecting her. Zoro's angry at himself for not being who he wants to be. And what he wants is to be 'normal' or whatever his definition of 'normal' is.
She sighs.
The swordsman turns away with a flash of guilt and pain in his eye. He knows what he said was wrong and mean, but sometimes he just can't control things like the way he wants. He regrets saying what he did, but he's to stubborn to admit to anything.
Perona silently gets up and leaves.
As soon as the door shuts, he bursts out sobbing. 'She was just trying to help, but sometimes you can't help or fix things that are this damaged. It's just not possible! They all should've just let me alone or let me die....' he thinks, sinking further into the bed, covering his face. He sobs quite hard, but it's more silent then loud. It's that cry you don't want anyone to hear; it's like it’s suffocating you...
A hand touches his head, and he freezes.
"You know," a male voice starts, "she was just trying to help. Everyone has their own demons within them, it just so happens that you are actually one, but it doesn't make you a monster," Mihawk softly speaks. He wandered in when he heard the exchange between the two. Zoro slowly looks up to the warlord. "I'm sorry. I didn't-"
"Doesn't matter. I'm not that delicate, Roronoa. It'll take way more then that to take me down." The warlord leaves the room soon after.
'Why's he being so nice? I doesn't deserve it....' Zoro thinks.
With a final pat to his head, the warlord leaves the room. Another presence enters the room. He doesn't turn over, but he does drop his hands to the bed. He lays there knowing damn well it's the ghost girl. "Zoro," she calls out. "Can you at least look in my direction?" she said sassily. He wipes his tears away and rolls over to his right side.
His eye lights up when he finally sees what she's hiding behind her back.
She smiles, "since you've been missing your crew lately, I thought maybe this would help you out of your depressive state," she says while moving the small, puppet Luffy in her hands. He doesn't realize he's crying, again, until tears drop on the hand holding him up. She giggles, "see! I know you'd like it," she cheerfully exclaims. "Why're you being so nice?" he brokenly asks. "Simple, you're hurting and I- ugh, care about you," she sticks her tongue out in a teasing matter.
"I'm so sorry," he quietly mumbles out whole heartedly. "I know, silly."
He sadly smiles as she places the puppet on the bed.
"Get some proper rest, please. You're impossible most days, dummy," she teases with a pat to his head. She leaves the room and he plops back down, holding the puppet in his hands. He decides to place it on the window before it gets lost. He ends up drifting off soon after with a slightly smile on his lips....
—
A total of a year and seven months have passed since being apart from his crew mates and captain. Zoro only has five more months left until he gets to see his crew again and maybe Law? Who knows...
The green haired swordsman's is still training with Mihawk, he's also learnt how to control his Haki much better so that incident won't happen again. Even though Mihawk owes them nothing, he still helps them out like a father figure would. Perona sometimes teases the warlord about that. That earns her glares and scary looks.
—
"I'm gonna cry." Persona fans her eyes. Both males look at one another in confusion. "Stop staring!" she shouts. "We should get going before any bad weather decides to surprise us," she demands. Zoro nods and smiles. He's gonna see his crew again! After two long and painful years, he's finally gonna get to see his crew mates and his captain! :)))
The two wave the warlord off as they begin their journey back to Sabaody.
Mihawk turns around with his back now facing them. He smiles and allows a few tears to fall. He's proud of both of them and their progress. He kinda felt like a dad caring for two idiotic and bickering children, but it was nice finally not being alone even if it was just for a little while. "Hey~ Someone's gonna get pounded~" a teasing voice jolts Mihawk out of his daze. It's Crocodile. "Miss me?" The warlord scoffs, "as if." He pulls the taller male into a kiss. "You really did end up caring for those kids, huh?" Crocodile teases. Mihawk turns away and panders into the castle. "Oh come on~"
"Shut up." Mihawk squints his eyes cutely.
As they sail the open waters, Zoro finds himself drifting off to sleep. He's always liked the sound of the waves crashing against the ship while he drifted off on deck. He allows himself to smile as he thinks about seeing Law again. He doesn't know where the surgeon is, but he can't wait to see him again...
—
"Oi! Wake up!" a female voice shouts down at him. He jolts awake and quickly sits up. "Ugh...." he groans for a second. "Idiot!" Persona smacks him on the back of the head. "Don't sit up too quickly, pea brain!" she scolds. He mumbles something that she can't understand. She decides to leave it before they start arguing again.
They get out of the boat and walk around the bubble village.
He smiles and tries to remember the number of the tree where their ship was- is? He isn't sure if it's still there... Perona takes the lead and they eventually come across the Sunny. Zoro's eye sparkles and she finds it funny. "You look like a happy puppy!" she teases. He blushes and glares at her only to be negative hollowed.
"I'm sorry I never listen to you- Would you cut that out!" he shouts.
She covers her mouth to stifle another laugh. "I can't help myself. You're just so cute sometimes!" She laughs again. He flushes and turns away from her.
—
It's been a full week now.
After the crew is finally all here, Luffy wants to celebrate, but the cook has other plans. "Knock it off," the blonde grumbles as he bonks Luffy on the head. "We need to go shopping for food before anything," he explains. Zoro smirks and pads over to the rest of the crew.
After they've all eaten and stocked up, Zoro waves a fair well to Perona. She waves back before sticking her tongue out at him. Some of his crew mates notice the exchange, but choose not to say anything. Thankfully their ship already coated with the bubble stuff. They head down into the water to find Fishman island. It takes awhile and being under the sea is quite beautiful. Zoro doesn't seem to be scared of the inky depths in the large body of water. Yes, it's a bit unnerving at some points or another, but it's nothing he can't handle. He has to protect the crew and the ship.
A giant octopus shows itself and their captain tames it.
Nami complains about the giant aquatic creature and Luffy finds it funny. At one point though, Luffy accidentally launches himself into the sea, Zoro and Sanji go after him in some air bubbles. Once retrieved, they slowly make their way back to the ship. As they're about twenty meters from the ship Zoro hears something, something beautiful and euphoric. A sound at first, but it slowly turns into a song if you will.
The green haired swordsman doesn't investigate any further though, he has to get Luffy back to the ship before anything.
As they decent further into the ocean more, the song remains. No one else seems to hear or even notice it. 'Weird,' he thinks. Why can only he hear it? Is it suppose to mean something- like a message or clue as to what's to come next? He can only think about what it means as they near a large bubble with a smaller one on top. The song doesn't stop nor does it get any louder. The green haired swordsman waits as they enter the giant bubble. Something goes wrong and they all end up in the water being sucked into the giant bubble.
When he wakes up sometime later it's on a white sandy beach. No one's around and as he sits up he gets a head rush and falls back down for two seconds. Successfully standing up this time, he listens; the song is gone and he's alone. Spinning around a few times he can't seem to find his crew anywhere. A feeling of dread seems to find its way into his heart. He pushes it aside and presses forward.
Kitetsu hasn't spoken to him in a little bit, he found it weird at first. However, right now, it's voice is loud and clear.
Zoro feels a little off balance when the voice starts from the back of his head and makes it's way front. He ignores the voice, but finds himself ending up wandering in a circle. 'Shit!' he curses as he tries to head in the direction of anyone living, preferably a person. He eventually meets up with the half dead cook and the rest of his crew.
As Zoro talks to Chopper and Brook, he doesn't notice the blonde cook staring up at him.
They spilt off from each other and Zoro goes off on his own. On purpose of course.... He just got a little lost in his thoughts to notice. A faint ringing can be heard somewhere on the island but he isn't sure where. A spike of pain shoots up his leg and into his chest. He lets out a forced breath and takes a minute to collect himself.
The cook, Brook, Chopper and Usopp all find themselves looking for the green haired swordsman. They find him standing and staring off at something unseen by them. The cook sighs and call out to the green idiot.
Nothing
Zoro doesn't move. It's like he can't hear them...
When Brook touches his shoulder, the green haired swordsman looks up at him with a small flinch. "What?"
"You didn't hear us I take it," the cook snaps.
"Zoro! I thought we lost you!" Chopper cries as he pads over to hug the swordsman's leg. The cook rolls his eyes and Zoro looks away annoyed. He leans down and pats the little doctor in the head. "I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me so much. I'm a lot stronger then I was before," he reassures with a small smile. Chopper wipes away his tears and smiles back brightly.
The rest of the trip was a blur. Somehow they end up in a castle being held hostage by a group of fishmen.
Zoro's tied up on the floor next to his crew mates and some other people whom live down here. He ends up fighting a fishman who took too many steroids and is now trying to attack King Neptune. He almost ends up drowning in the water that's rapidly filling up the palace, but he doesn't.
At the end of their adventure, the royal family ends up throwing a banquet for the Straw Hats. Zoro drinks until he gets so tired that he decides to take a nap. Luffy eats until he passes out. Food coma.
It's been about two weeks since they've left from Fishman Island. The cook's been acting weird and Zoro's been training like normal. Ever since they ran into a group of pirates down there, the cook's been spacing out and not talking as much.
Weird
"LOOK!" Luffy shouts, pointing to an island.
"What the...." Nami trails off looking at the lava and heat filled island.
"That's weird." Usopp shivers.
Zoro sits up and panders over to the bow to watch the island coming into view more. The green haired swordsman hums at the sight.
Robin, Usopp, Luffy and Zoro all go aboard a Mini Merry and over to the island. Once there, they get out and feel the full force of the heat. Zoro feels a force inside of him telling him to leave or at least keep his mind focused more. He does just that and actually ends up staying with the group. "Luffy's befriending another weirdo again...." the swordsman sighs as a hand drags down his face.
The group and Luffy end up in the water after falling out of the Mini Merry after wanting to cross a body of water.
The freezing cold water makes Zoro's body feel heavy.
Sinking
Sinking
Deeper
No
Swim!
He resurfaces after grabbing his captain from sinking any deeper into the inky blackness of the water. As they swim to the frozen, icy other half if the island, Zoro looks down. He faintly sees something down there, swimming in an odd pattern with large and spiky fins. Getting more creeped out, he hurries himself along. Once everyone's finally on shore, the cold makes them shiver, but their frozen clothes are making their extremities even more cold.
As Zoro becomes more desperate for warmth, he feels a heavy sense telling him to go full on demon and kill them for laughing at them.
But pushes the urge down.
Instead, the three of them, excluding Usopp, go batshitcrazy to obtain warmer clothing.
Finally, he has something dry and somewhat warm from the previous long wet green coat. The chill never goes away though, his clothing are still wet and freezing. A forceful wind blows in.
They all shiver.
On their journey to find more warmth, they ride on the back of a pirate captain by the name of Brownbeard. He's half crocodile, half human. They eventually stumble upon someone standing at the entrance of a large set of doors. There stands someone dressed in a long black coat and some white hat. Zoro thinks he may know who this is, but doesn't want to jump to conclusions just yet. Also there, stands a group of marines and the marine known as Smoker and another known as Taigasi. Brownbeard stops in his tracks.
Zoro gets another chill, he doesn't like these two.
At this point he can't feel his fingers, forearms, toes or his calfs. The cold surrounding area and frozen air is making him feel dizzy and honestly a bit nauseous. You see, where he lived before, it was almost always warm or just the slightest bit cool out, never was it cold like this. He wants to sleep very badly, but he knows he can't do that out here again. Again meaning the time he went training outside in the snow on Drum Island. That was a bad mistake he's willing to never bring up again...
The Straw Hats all watch as the person in the black coat uses some kind of blue bubble in their attacks. Then they seems to do something to the marines.
"TORAO!" Luffy calls out, making their presence known. Brownbeard continues on towards the giant set of doors.
The other Straw hats sigh.
"Huh?" Zoro hums.
"Thanks for saving me! I meant to say that earlier!" the rubber man says as he launches himself off of Brownbeard's back and over to the person, knocking the poor person on their back. "Omfh-" they let out a long and deep grunt as the wind gets knocked out of them. The other Straw Hats rush over, with Usopp slipping at least five times.
"Are you alright?- Eep!" Usopp hides behind Zoro because the person in black looks scary.
"Ow- Idiot! What do you think you're doing here??" the man shouts, sitting up rather quickly.
"Law?" Zoro intervenes.
The man still on the ground looks up to the green haired swordsman in shock.
"Zoro-ya?-"
"You know Zoro!" Luffy interrupts with sparkling eyes. Law pushes the rubber man off of him and stands up to brush himself of snow. He picks up his hat and places it on his head.
"I do," the surgeon answers.
"How do you know our swordsman?" Robin speaks up. Usopp is still hiding behind Zoro.
"I think we should continue this conversation inside," the surgeon suggests as he notices the marines getting closer.
They all head inside the mountain. Law shuts the large door.
"Tell us, Torao!" Luffy demands.
Law sighs heavily. He remembers the time when the Straw Hat captain woke up...... He pushes through his urge to just walk away from all of them and continue what he was doing before.
"We met around a year ago," he answers with a hint of life to his voice. Zoro knows that Law isn't the nicest or social guy around other people, so he pads around patiently, following them to god-knows-where. "I was on a bit of a supply run when we bumped into one another."
Zoro knows this is the truth, but not the full thing. He smirks.
Should he tell his crew about what happened about a year ago? Should he talk with Law first? What are the two? Friends with benefits? Lovers? Boyfriends? What? He had to figure this out first....
"Mugiwara, I have a proposal for you," the surgeon speaks up as they sudden stop walking.
Zoro doesn't like where this is going.
Luffy hums.
"I want to take down the emperors, Big Mom and Kaido, The King Of Beasts. Will you-"
Luffy gasps really long and really hard. He chokes on air and starts coughing. Usopp pats him on the back gently. Zoro looks away from his captain for a moment to look at Law. They meet eye to eyes for a split second, Zoro gives a soft smile before going back to his previous expression.
"Okay! Wait....what was the question?" the rubber man asks, forgetting why he starts coughing.
Sigh
"Luffy....." Usopp sorrows.
Robin giggles.
"Will you help me take down the emperors?" Law repeats himself.
"Not Shanks, right?" Luffy asks, sticking his nose in the air.
Law tilts his head to a side in annoyance.
"No," the surgeon firmly states with wide frustrated and tired eyes.
Zoro smiles at the man's actions. 'Cute,' he thinks.
"Good. Then, I'll help!" Luffy says with a large smile on his face. Usopp shakes his captain from side to side telling how stupid he is for accepting the man's offer. "I'll help too," Zoro speaks up. Law nods and begins explaining his plans to take them down. It starts with capturing a scientist by the name of Caesar and stopping the artificial devil fruits from being made by a chemical substance called SAD. This then brings up the topic of after Ceaser is defeated. The man next in line is a warlord called, Donquixote Doflamingo.
"Do you understand, Mugiwara?" Law asks.
Luffy nods his head with his 'thinking' face on. Everyone sighs. 'He doesn't understand...' Zoro complains in his head.
When Zoro blinks, he doesn't remember passing out, but now he's chained in a cell next to others. ‘What happened?’ he thinks. This lady with long green hair and large wings walks in through an open door. Law looks away from her gaze. Another walks in, but a man this time whom appears to have a steak attached to his face. Zoro looks on in confusion. Lastly, a floating man with dark purple hair, yellow horns and a weird fashion sense, floats into the room and chuckles.
The man explains what he's doing here, but Luffy being Luffy, doesn't care.
He picks his nose and flings whatever-the-hell was in there, at the floating man now know as Caesar. After that, they end up breaking out and forming an alliance with the marines. This is for the time being kind of thing. Situational if you will. Zoro gets separated and Usopp sighs heavily for the the green haired swordsman. "Where's Zoro?" Luffy asks, looking around like an owl.
"I think he wandered off," Robin implies, looking at the surgeon. She notices a look of worry on his emotionless face. He quickly brushes it off and they all head on. Finding a control room, they all watch in horror as a giant, red, slime axolotl with yellow glowing eyes forms as fire and lava spread. "You like Smiley?" Ceaser asks chuckling evilly.
The scientist then proceeds to explain how it'll kill everything and everyone. Also that many higher power parties are watching their every moves.
The 'Smiley' emits a powerful purple gas has the eradicates everything in its path. The samurai they picked up, Brook, Sanji in Nami's body and Zoro all watch in horror as the gas flows down to them. They scream and begin running for their lives. Law feels his heart beating faster then ever before. He wants Zoro to make it out alive, he also wants to talk with him about the time they spent apart and what they could be moving forward. But he isn't sure how to go about it....
Law ends up distracting himself with fighting a kind old 'friend' with the marine, Smoker.
They defeat the man and leave him to die.
Law doesn't care.
Meanwhile with Zoro.
"Run!" Sanji shouts.
"We're not gonna make it!" Brook sorrows. "I can feel my skin melting off- oh wait, I don't have any-"
"Enough!" Both Sanji and Zoro shout in unison as they continue to run like crazy. They begin running faster when they notice it's getting closer. Zoro can almost feel it melting the bottoms of his boots, but that doesn't stop him.
When they're close enough, they see the large doors to the mountain in sight.
"We're not gonna make it!" Brook shout, flailing his arms in the air.
"Yes we are," Zoro states.
Without thinking about how they would react afterwards, Zoro drops his Haki and his wings flap out. The cook and Brook both close their eyes, although Brook doesn't have any! Yohohoho! Anyway....Zoro ends up grabbing the samurai with his legs as his flies them in, sliding in across the cold floor and sliding in every direction.
The metal door seals shut.
It's dark.
Zoro quickly puts his wing away.
His body hurts....
"Zoro-san?" Brook asks, looking around as he sits up. They all hear a groan as they see the green haired swordsman slowly sitting up too. He starts coughing. "Y- *cough* yeah?- *cough*" the green haired swordsman wonders. "You alright, Marimo?" the cook wonders.
Zoro scoffs as he stands up.
A sharp pain shoots through his leg, but he pushes it aside.
Zoro blinks and he's now in a colorful room. "Huh??" He turns around to find Nami and Robin with him. "Zoro! Stay focused!" she shouts, now back in her body. He doesn't remember how he got here, but he knows he needs to find Law. As the three walk further into the room, children come into view. Some big, some small, it's weird....
A lady with long green hair enters the room with something on a tray.
They children happily go over and take whatever it was.
Zoro ends up finding himself fighting the lady with the large wings. She's a devil fruit user. Yuki Yuki no Mi, it allows her body to turn into snow. The green haired swordsman is forced to team up with the marine lady. He doesn't like it, but deals with it nonetheless.
He defeats Monet and runs off with the marine over his shoulder.
The Straw Hats celebrate their victory over the island and the children are to return back with the marines to their homes and families.
Zoro notices one kid ended up staying behind with the samurai they came to know as, Kin'emon. The small child's name is Momonosuke, he wears a pink yukata and has a shaved top head with a fluffy ponytail on the back. He's currently refusing to eat a boiled bowl of whatever the cook made. The blonde cook is getting upset, so Zoro ends up dragging him off.
"Stop freaking the kid out," Zoro states as he lets go of the cook's collar.
"Tch, idiot," the cook spits with hate on his voice. The cook takes a drag of his cigarette before noodling back to the ladies. He loves women, despises children and hates men. He's an oddball.
Law pads over to the green haired swordsman and places a hand on his shoulder. "You alright?" the surgeon asks. Zoro looks up to the tall surgeon and smiles. "Better now that you're here~" the green haired swordsman teases. Law lets go and looks away. "I need to talk with you later," Zoro states before padding off back to his crew mates.
Zoro notices Robin smirking at him from a far. It sends a shiver down his spine. 'She’s up to something.......I can feel it.'
Later that night, when everyone is passed out from drinking or eating, mainly Luffy in his food coma, Law goes to find the green haired swordsman. "Thought I'd find you up here," the surgeon states as he climbs into the large crow's nest, shutting the hatch behind him. He pads over to the green haired swordsman sitting on the left side of the room next to the window and sits next to him.
Note that Law's had a few drinks.
"What did you want to talk about, Zoro-ya?" Law asks trying to keep his focus as he keeps his head upright due the tone being. Zoro notices and smiles.
"Us."
"What about us?"
There's a bit of a pause.
"Law," the green haired swordsman starts, "after we parted on Kiri Island, it....."
"Hurt?" Law finishes.
"Yeah.....I felt...incomplete if that makes sense. Getting to know you and hearing what you did for my crew mates and captain, was and is very nice of you."
Law gawks at the complement.
"I know that's not your style but it does mean a lot. You," he hesitates, "mean a lot," Zoro says quickly looking away from the surgeon's gaze. Law knows he's hiding a blush. The surgeon places his head on his arms That're resting on the ledge next to the window. "You're funny, Zoro-ya," Law teases with a playful giggle.
Zoro turns his head back around.
"Are you drunk?" Zoro snaps. This seems to make Law laugh. He's never heard the man laugh before, but the green haired swordsman thinks it's kinda...cute...
Zoro blushes and stares at the man.
"What do you consider us to be then?" Zoro asks, changing the topic. Law lifts his head back up to look out the open window. He smiles.
If it was possible, Zoro's face glows even brighter.
"Do you wanna be my boyfriend, Zoro-ya?" Law asks, Turing his head back to lay on his arm. The surgeon stares up at the green haired swordsman with the cutest expression, he doesn't even know! 'Ugh!' the green haired swordsman thinks. "Only if you'll be mine."
The words linger in the air.
Law nods and closes his eyes.
"You're such a lightweight," Zoro teases. Law playfully swats at him and smiles into a hug the green haired swordsman pulls him into. Feeling warm and in a place of comfort, on Zoro, the surgeon allows himself to drift off to the sound of Zoro's heart beats. Zoro sinks back into the side couch and promptly falls asleep....
In the morning, Law discusses their next course of action. They need to go to a place called Green Bit, it's connected to Dressrosa. He then explains how a ruler by the name of Doflamingo is set there, it's his land. Caesar complains about his chains being too tight and Luffy almost falls for it. Nami smacks him on the back of the head and sighs. "Don't you have a crew though, Law?" Nami asks.
The surgeon nods.
"TORAO!" Luffy shouts as he crashes into the surgeon. Law stays on his feet and lets out a huff. "You know, Mugiwara, there's other ways of getting someone's attention!" the surgeon scolds. The rubber captain sinks down and laughs it off. "Shishishi!"
His crew sighs. They know him all too well.
In just short of a week and a half, they already find themselves staring down the island known as Dressrosa.
"Dressroba?" Luffy says.
"Dressrosa," Law corrects.
"Dressroba."
"Rosa."
"Ro?"
"Sa. Say it together," Law prompts.
"Dress."
"Yes."
"Roba," Luffy laughs.
"No.....you're impossible..." Law sighs. Luffy giggles.
Law gives up and leaves the idiot Straw Hat captain. The surgeon then proceeds to explain his plan to the rest of the crew. They hear it, but he thinks that they weren't really listening.
Sigh
"I think it's a good plan," Zoro speaks up. "They just aren't really ones to follow it."
Law silently agrees.
On the island, they break off into a few groups. Law, Usopp, Robin go to Green Bit while the rest of the Straw Hats, excluding Zoro and Luffy, all stay on the ship. This also includes Momonosuke. Kin'emon ends up going on his own to find someone important to him.
While in town, Zoro stops at a bar to get a drink and something to eat. He also wants to try and follow his boyfriend's plan via getting as much information as he can. At some point, he feels like something isn't right. Looking around he notices that his swords are gone, in a panic, he stands up and darts out of the building to follow the small culprit. He ends up chasing whatever it is until a huge crash leaves him on his ass and the small creature laying down.
"You," he growls.
The small blue person? gets up and tries to run, but Zoro quickly thinks and grabs the creature to hold in front of his gaze.
"Put me down!" it shouts, squirming about.
"Why steal my swords? That's rude, you know," he scolds the small blue creature.
"I'm sorry....but we're allowed to. The old king said so himself!" she shouts. He figures.
Sigh
'The hell is going on in this place?' the green haired swordsman thinks.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not allowed to tell you! You're an outsider!" she shrieks.
After a lot of convincing on Zoro's part, the small creature now known as Wicca the fairy, explains how there was an old king in this land. His kingdom and everything was taken over by a large pink bird? That part he doesn't really understand.... Anyway, she also explains that there are others like her.
Great, more little creatures to worry about....
He sighs.
After a long time of wandering around, going the wrong direction.....he eventually finds his way to the top of a sunflower hill with directions from the small fairy, and then down a set of stairs. She hops down from his head and hops down the rest of the stairs. At the bottom Zoro spots many of her creatures standing around a large screen. He stands and stares at the screen as well.
On the screen shows his captain with a golden helmet, white mustache and a red cape on. He sighs and ends up looking around. The room is quite clean for it being underground and all.....
Sometime later, Zoro comes face to face with his other crew mates. Franky, Usopp and Robin. The fairies call all of them by their names, but add a 'land' at the end of it. Weird, but okay. Zoro met other weird people before. The green haired swordsman finds himself parting from the others and going back outside to find his captain, thus is where he runs into Kin'emon and the cook.
The blonde idiot looks like he's in love, again.
Sigh
Zoro thinks, 'isn't he with Luffy though? Are they just fuck buddies then?' He doesn't want to think about that any longer.
"Oi! Zoro!" a loud voice calls out. All three of them look over to the colosseum to see Luffy waving his hands at them violently. Zoro feels like he's taking care of a child when his captain is around....
"Why're their bars everywhere?" Kin'emon wonders.
"Are you stuck?" the cook calls out to the captain~
Zoro feels like making a joke.
"What?~" he teases, "calling out to your boyfriend, cook?" the green haired swordsman snickers.
The cook glows bright red.
'How could he've known???!' Sanji thinks in disbelief.
"What?" the cook shrieks.
"Don't play dumb with me. Think I couldn't hear you two at night when I was on watch??" Zoro gets in the cook's face about it, so does the cook.
"Watch it," he growls.
"Enough. We have to find a way to break out your captain," Kin'emon awkwardly interjects.
Zoro agrees and pulls away.
Out of nowhere, the warlord, Doflamingo shows up with someone in his grasp. It's Law. Zoro feels his heart thumping in his chest. The warlord drops the surgeon on the ground and pulls out a gun to point down at the man. Just as Zoro takes one step, Doflamingo fires off three rounds into the surgeon.
Feeling an immense amount of rage overtaking his emotions, Zoro charges the warlord with an intent to kill. Kin'emon joins in, but they're too late and the warlord flies off like a bird.
Once out of sight, Zoro quickly turns around and pads over to his boyfriend.
He drops to his knees.
"A-are you gonna- um-" Zoro sputters.
"Zoro-ya," Law calls out calmly. "Please take a breath for me. You're gonna end up hyperventilating," the surgeon instructs. The green haired swordsman does what he's told and takes a few deep breaths. "Give me a sec-" Zoro hurriedly says before darting off towards the colosseum.
Luffy watches as his first mate nears.
"Find a way out. I'll meet up with you later," the green haired swordsman explains. Luffy nods and soon disappears into the structure.
Zoro runs back to Law, but gets stopped by some people. He has no choice but to run off with Kin'emon to find somewhere safe, leaving his boyfriend on the ground bleeding and- he's gone? Zoro looks around and he can't seem to spot Law anywhere. Kin'emon helps the green haired swordsman run in the right direction.
After sometime of problem solving, they finally get Luffy out of the death trap that is the colosseum. They all end up wearing some ridiculous costumes as they speed away from the large structure. Luffy can't seem to stop crying for some reason. Zoro isn't good with emotions in any sense, so his 'comforting' isn't really helping. He's still trying, mind you....
"We have to find Law," Zoro states.
Luffy looks over to his first mate and sees the desperation in the man's eye. The rubber man understands and nods, "lets go save Torao!" Luffy shouts earning him a thump to his head. "Zoro-dono," Kin'emon starts. The two Straw Hats look over to him. "Are you by chance dating the young surgeon?"
This almost makes Zoro's heart stop, he suddenly feels sick.
He hasn't told anyone of them yet. He isn't too sure how everyone's going to react to finding out he's gay and dating their ally. He suddenly feels like sinking into a small ball or throwing up. His anxiety is going off of the wall. Luffy notices, but ends up laughing at the conversation.
"What's so funny, captain?" Zoro growls.
"You. I already knew that!" he states happily.
The green haired swordsman's mouth hangs open. "What?" he quietly asks.
His captain stops for a split second, but is ushered forward by Kin'emon to keep moving. "I heard you two that night. Torao asked you if you wanted to be his boyfriend. You said yes," Luffy explains still smiling. "I think it's nice that Zoro's found himself someone to love. Shishishi!" he laughs.
Zoro feels himself blushing a little. Luffy accepts him for who he is and who he wants to love. His eye begins to water, but he can’t let that vaulter his movements.
"Y-you don't care that I like guys?" The question seems to quickly leave the green haired swordsman's mouth.
"Nope! Zoro is Zoro."
'You make no sense half of the time...' Zoro thinks as they continue to make their way to the castle.
Once there, a lady with long black wavy hair, a red rose in it and a long purple and white spotted dress walks up to them. She tells them, that she can help them sneak in. They agree and Kin'emon eventually ends up losing the group. He panders around the palace dressed as the 'young prince' himself. It's kinda funny.
Anyway, Zoro ends up being confronted by a large stone figure whom they call Pica. His voice is very high pitched as if he didn't hit puberty yet. The green haired swordsman ends up laughing again. Sometimes he forgets how silly life can be if you just stop to look. He tells Luffy to get Law out of there while he stays back to defeat Pica. He's been wanting to fight something for awhile now, this is his chance.
"This is gonna be fun," he states in a low growl.
In the middle of his fight with Pica, the devil fruit user shows what he truly looks like. A large, tan man in spandex. He kinda looks like Franky a little bit....
A chill runs down the green haired swordsman's spine.
He accidentally lets his Haki slip. At this point he doesn't care, he will fight the devil fruit user showing his features. Pica steps back in shock at seeing the Straw Hats first mate possessing wing, horns and everything else. Another thing to note, Zoro can also use his Arminat Haki and Conquer Haki to form four extra arms and two extra heads.
"Nine sword style, Asura!" Zoro calls out.
He pushes off from the ground and goes in for an attack, Pica dodges it but not far enough. Drops of blood end up flying out of his arm as he quickly hides- no, he wasn't hiding! Haha.....into the large concrete form of himself. "Coward," the green haired swordsman mumbles with Wado in his mouth.
One last time, he pushes off of the ground and flaps his wings into the air. He ends up slicing the giant Pics sized man into two from the waist up.
He changes back and lands somewhere in the town.
He looks around and gets confused...
"Where am I?" he asks redundantly.
Sooner then never he finds himself trying to stop a giant string, bird cage looking thing, from going any further and killing them all. So many have died already, when either it be getting crushed by falling rumble, sliced by controlled citizens, being trapped and getting thinly sliced by the bird cage or from injuries. Zoro isn't going to die here, so he tries his best to it. Others join him in trying to stop the cage from moving any closer to the center.
It's not really working....
The cage is still slowly getting closer and closer to the center of the island where everything would be destroyed. To keep the Straw Hats first mate going, he thinks of Law, getting to see him again would be the best thing we could ever ask for. He wants to hug and squeeze Law tightly. Not really one for affection, but he stills wants to feel someone close to him. He won't give up. He wants Law to see another day too....
After hearing some rather loud explosions and seeing his captain flying in the air! Zoro watches as the warlord is punched into tomorrow, mainly just the side below the palace. The string cage disappears and the green haired swordsman drops to his knees in relief. He feels his legs and hands shaking slightly. He may have put a little too much Haki into his swords from to trying stop the cage, whoops.
An odd excited green haired man, with long canines and a bull ring, that Luffy befriended walks over to him and extends a hand.
He takes the offer and stands up to brush himself off. The man coos at the touch from the green haired swordsman. Zoro turns around and pads over to Kin'emon and his friend who is sporting a very large paintbrush. "Who's this?" he asks.
"Kanjiro. He's a good friend of mine," Kin'emon explains.
Zoro nods his head.
Suddenly feeling quite dizzy and nauseous, the green haired swordsman feels his legs turning into the jello. His legs give out and Kin'emon catches him, but not his swords, they fall to the ground with a loud clatter. His eye stays closed, but the sounds can still be heard. Before he fully passes out, he hears Kin'emon voice, but can't make out any words.
—
When he finally wakes up, he's gathered with his crew mates around him. He slowly sits up still feeling a little dizzy and looks around whilst holding his head. He spots Law sitting in a chair talking with Robin. He then fully takes in his surroundings. He's in some building? Home maybe? He wants to get up, but his whole body feels sore as can be. It's already dark out and everyone is starting to settle down and head to sleep. Luffy's other brother, Sabo walks in and greats everyone. He explains who he is to Luffy and explains a little about all three of them growing up.
Zoro smirks. He remembers what Ace told them before leaving the group in Albasta; Sabo said the exact same thing. He mentions it.
When Sabo leaves, he waves everyone off.
Zoro, ready to sleep again, glanced over to see where Law has placed himself. He's sleeping cutely on the floor around Luffy and Usopp. The green haired swordsman is glad that Law is able to sleep tonight. He soon finds a comfortable enough place to drift off too.
In the morning, the weird green haired man fawns over the entire room as the door suddenly bursts open. "What is it Rooster-chan?" Robin asks. The man grimaces a little. "Marine are coming up here to capture you all!"
He doesn't really remember anything from last night or the one before that, but he does remember seeing Luffy's other brother, Sabo? He looks a little like Ace, both have fluffy hair and care for Luffy a lot. He smiles at the memory before quickly getting up and running out of the building. Everyone runs for it as the marines begin shooting at them.
Zoro starts to trail off, but Law grabs his wrist and runs with him.
Zoro blushes a little before smiling and running with Law.
As they run for their ship, the purple robed man they met earlier shows up. Fujitora collects all the rumble from the town and goes to crush the pirates before escaping, but the town's people are stopping him from doing so. The man doesn't know what any of them look like, but he can tell that these pirates are something different...
He smiles.
Luffy doesn't want to drink the saké that the seven other pirate captains are trying to give him. The thing with Luffy is that, the man doesn't really drink alcohol. Zoro on the other hand dunks his entire head into the large cup of saké. If it wasn't for Usopp, Zoro. Would've drowned in alcohol, literally.
"Zoro!"
The green haired swordsman coughs a little.
"That's enough! You're done," the sniper firmly states as he drags the swordsman away from all the drinks like a child being dragged away from the toy isle.
Sometime later, Zoro finds himself invading Law's personal space. He pulls the surgeon close to his body as a drink is poured into his mug. He smiles and chuckles at his crew mates shenanigans. Law tries to get away, but he soon realizes that he can't. Zoro's too strong for him right now....
The surgeon crosses his arms and blushes.
Zoro thinks he's pouting, so he brings his face down next to his boyfriend. "Law~ Are you trying to get away from me?~" Zoro teases in the surgeon's left ear. Law shrugs him off. Zoro lets go and Law straightens himself up. "I heard about what happened...." Zoro starts, "....you-your arm. Are you okay?" Zoro asks as he looks over with his head tilted. Law slightly blushes and holds his ground.
"Are you mad at me?"
Law sighs.
"No. I'm just...tired. A lot has happened today," the surgeon admits as he brings his knees up to his chest and tilts his chin down. "Get some rest. You look quite tired," Zoro mentions in a tired yet cherry tone. Law smiles and unfolds himself to lay his head down on his boyfriend's lap. It's not the most comfortable place to sleep. But his eyes are already closing. He quickly drifts off for once.
The green haired swordsman drinks the rest of his drink and places the mug down next to him.
He takes his left hand and places it behind him to prop himself up. With his other hand he gently strokes Law's hair. The surgeon's breathing soon becomes softer and less staggered.
'He's finally asleep,' Zoro thinks.
Robin pads her way over to the two swordsmans.
"So," she softly starts, "you two are really dating?" she asks with a knowing smirk. He blushes a little. Not finding the right words, he ends up nodding. "That's sweet. I'm happy for you two," she says with a comforting smile. Zoro finds himself smiling back. Someone else who’s accepted him now.
In the beginning, Robin and him didn't exactly get along, but after the whole Luffy-fighting-for-her moment, he trusts her like family, even though he's never known his.....
She sighs, "you should take him to a proper bed soon," she offers.
He nods, "I will," he says, looking down as he gently strokes the man's face with his thumb. She smiles once more. "Before you go, be honest. You and Franky," he says two simple names. Looking like a deer in headlights, she narrows her eyes and watches him as she pads away. He silently giggles and looks back down.
He carefully gets up and picks Law up with him.
The surgeon is out like a small child on New Year's who's fallen asleep too early. He carries Law into the ship that an ally of Luffy's is letting them stay on and lays him down on a futon left on the floor for them. There's a few more in there too. Tucking him in, he bends down to kiss the surgeon on the forehead. "Goodnight my dear~" Zoro whispers before kissing Law on the forehead. When he straightens up, he takes a step to leave, but is stopped by something getting caught on his pant leg.
He turns around to see Law's hand on his pant leg.
"Can you stay?" Law mumbles out half asleep. The surgeon is never this domestic unless it's with his comfort person, Bepo. Zoro feels his face heating up. He nods and takes his shoes off to get into the futon with him. He cuddles up close to Law as the surgeon quickly makes his way to hug the green haired swordsman. To be fair, Law did have some alcohol tonight. This man is just a sleepy drunk. Zoro doesn't mind.
The two quickly drift off to the sounds outside and each other's low breathing and heartbeats.
—
Early the next morning, Zoro feels warm. He's not used to having someone this close to him yet, it's just a bit different is all....
The green haired swordsman blinks and looks around. Franky, Kin'emon, Robin and Luffy are all scattered around the room. The swordsman guesses that Robin got lonely and snuck in here, she tended to do that sometimes and it's mainly just to sneak into Franky's bunk back when they were on the Thousand Sunny. There was a separate room for Robin and mainly the women to sleep in, but she didn't want to stay with them. He smiles and lays his head back down. The sun hasn't risen yet, so he closes his eye and snuggles up closer to Law.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! See you in the next one.
Chapter 6: Author’s Note 2
Summary:
Sorry, writers block 😗
Chapter Text
Hello everyone, I’m going to put this story on a bit of a pause right now. I will not be discontinuing this story by any means, I just need a little break from writing the material and gathering up enough motivation to edit the chapters lol. I will hopefully be back next week with a brand new chapter for all of you. :)
Chapter 7: Zoro’s Mishap
Summary:
Hello everyone! It’s been so long since I’ve posted an update to this story, I’m sorry it took so long. I’ve had quite a bit of things on my plate lately, so I was just trying to get them done. Thank you all for waiting and supporting me on my journey with this story lol. Hope you enjoy!
Notes:
This chapter contains: masturbation, lots of sex, heart broken Luffy and female Zoro.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It's been around four days since they've left Dressrosa. Zoro finally notices something rather large off in the distance. He calls out to everyone to make them aware of what he's seeing. "Is that...." Usopp trails off as a giant cylinder gradually gets larger. "What is that?" Zoro asks, squinting his eye.
"Zou," Robin answers rather calmly. "It's so large. One step from the creature could kill you"
'Scary,' they all think.
As they get closer, their ship comes into view. Zoro's the second on board the Thousand Sunny. Everything looks a mess.... What happened here?
"I think they might be up there," Kanjuro offers, pointing up to the sky. They all look up and agree that they have to get up there. The other samurai posses a devil fruit, he draws out an odd looking dragon before it comes to life. A long poorly drawn pink dragon with a sad looking face and squiggly body.
Weird
As everyone gets ready to climb onto the dragon, Zoro makes a decision to tie his swords up in a different way. He ties them of his back so they wouldn't fall out from his side.
They all get on and it begins to climb up the side of the giant thing? Maybe it's a leg? 'Zou is an elephant, right?' Zoro wonders to himself. The order they sit on the dragon goes as followed; Luffy, Zoro, Law, Usopp, Robin, Franky, Kin'emon and finally Kanjuro. Zoro isn't the best person with heights, he can handle them to a curtain degree, but when it comes to something like this, he isn't sure how much he can handle. He takes a breathe and continues holding onto the pink dragon. 'I can do this.'
About half way up, the dragon starts to loose its grip on the leg that they’re climbing.
It starts falling.
The top of Ryuunosuke starts falling outwards. Zoro holds on for dear life as the two samurai at the back fall off. The green haired swordsman isn't paying attention to what's happening around him, all he's paying attention to is his grip, which is deadly right now. Law notices and tries to hold Zoro the best he can. When Ryuunosuke gets its grip again, it gets back to climbing. Zoro's grip faulters a little and he starts falling backwards.
"Eh?......EH?!" he shouts.
Law catches him and holds him tight.
"Breathe, I've got you-"
"You better," Luffy quickly interrupts, twisting his head back like an owl.
"Creepy! Creepy Luffy!" Usopp shouts in fear almost letting go himself.
Robin giggles and Franky shakes his head.
Law suddenly feels targeted by the Straw Hat captain. He keeps a tight grip on the green haired swordsman's back until the man has gained his grip again. "....Thanks...." Zoro whispers out, turning his head to the side to glance at Law. He gets nervous staring down, so he faces front once more.
Once on top of the giant elephant, Zoro and Law pad away from the drawing as Robin cries over it. Once the dragon drawing made it to the top of the leg and onto the back of the elephant, it assumed it originally form as a drawing on the ground. She loved the cute pink dragon and outwardly showd it. She tends to like cute things, but tends to talk about creepy stuff. Now think, how does this add up? It doesn't....
Sometime later, everyone is with the other Straw Hats. The navigator tightly hugs their captain as she cries. Zoro looks around and doesn't spot the cook anywhere. Good, he didn't want to see him anyways....
They end up meeting up with Law and his crew.
The polar bear, Bepo, hides behind Law. "Why're you hiding behind me?" Law asks not really caring, but also wanting to know. "Roronoa," Bepo quietly answers, looking around. The surgeon sighs, "why?" he asks in frustration. "He scares me. Last time we were near each other, he tried to...."
"Tried to?"
"To-"
"Bepo, I don't have time for this."
"Sorry.... Pet me," the polar bear grimaces.
Law stands their dumbfounded.
Sigh
"He's not gonna hurt you, you know this, right?" the surgeon asks, side glancing his first mate. The polar bear nods furiously. "I know, it's just.....it feels weird," the polar bear admits as he scrunches up his cute little nose. Law stares on for a second. "Stop it!"
"Huh?"
"Stop being so damn cute. What's the big difference if I pet you versus him?" the surgeon sighs again.
"I've known you longer...." Bepo sheepishly answers. Law lets out another frustrated sigh.
Penguin and Shachi float over to their captain and poke him on either cheek. They get swiftly kicked away.
The Heart Pirates and the Straw Hats meet up. A loud sound and interrupts them. The minks proceed to quickly explain about how this has never happened before. Luffy covers his ears and shouts for the noises to go away. Zoro thinks he hears something.....maybe it's just Kitetsu talking? No. This voice is much deeper.... No words can be understood, just sounds of the deep voice calling out. He isn't sure if anyone can hear it. Maybe his captain can hear something?
A sudden urge to pass out hits him like a brick.
When Zou wobbles about, everyone seems to fall everywhere.
He hits the ground with a
*THUD*
and lays there on his side. He can feel deep within him, a strange feeling that seems to invade his mind and body. It's like he can't move...it's like he can't speak... What can he do? Thinking seems cloudy and muffled now...
His eye stays open until he hears the deep sounds of that voice again. He faints.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
When he wakes up, he quickly sits up and looks around. As he gets a head rush, he slowly sinks back down. He has to stop doing that.... Once he no longer sees black spots, he blinks and sees the surgeon is sitting next to him. "What-"
"You fainted. You're lucky you only got a minor head bump," Law explains.
"How long have I been out for?" Zoro mumbles.
Law looks away for a second, presumably thinking.
"Two hours."
Zoro nods, sitting back up again.
They two stand up and go to find wood to rebuild the damaged buildings and everything. Zoro gets lost on the way. He looks around and notices no one around. "They must've gotten lost..."
"Zoro-ya"
Zoro flinches a little before spinning around to glare down his boyfriend.
"Ouch. You could kill someone with that glare of yours," Law teases. The green haired swordsman blushes and turns away with his arms crossed. The surgeon pads his way over to his boyfriend to snake his arms around him. Laying his head on the green haired swordsman's left shoulder, Law smiles. "You really like hugging, don't you?" Zoro teases.
Law flushes and quickly pulls away.
"Not that I mind it," Zoro explains with a smile.
The green haired swordsman pulls his boyfriend in for a kiss. Law pulls away and drags Zoro behind the large pile of chopped up wood pieces. The mink from earlier, a bunny named Carrot, was riding passes on a bananagator. She passes they by and Zoro turns his head to look at the surgeon. "What was that for?"
"We've barely had any...alone time, if you know what I mean." Law smirks and licks his lips. Zoro's heart begins thinking wildly in his chest.
The surgeon leans down and kisses the green haired swordsman again and again until Zoro's a panting mess.
Tongues clash and fight for dominance. Law wins and makes Zoro loose his hard edge. The surgeon drags his sharp tongue along to the roof of the green haired swordsman's mouth only to watch him shudder until his touch. Law feels his lips going numb from the kissing that they're doing. The surgeon lifts up Zoro and hikes up up so the green haired swordsman's legs are around his own waist. Pushing harder onto the wood behind them, Law snakes a hand down to Zoro's draw string on his pants. The green haired swordsman gasps when he feels a cold hand in his erect penis, he squirms around a little under the surgeon's touch. Without breaking their kiss, Law manages to prop the green haired swordsman on a ledge where the wood wasn't exactly aligned on top of each other. He unzips his own pants and pulls out his erect penis to jerk them both off at the same time, but not before spitting in his hand.
Zoro moans lightly into Law's mouth as more pleasure takes over his already clouded mind.
Pleased with the show that the green haired swordsman is putting on, Law pulls away from Zoro's mouth. A string of saliva connects their mouth's fur a split second. Zoro wipes a bit of drool from off of his chin away and flushes deeper once he realizes Law's hungry look in his eyes. The surgeon lifts up Zoro's shirt and begins kissing him all over the torso. The kisses tickle as Law's lips brush over certain parts, such as his nipples.
They're......sensitive.
In his boots, Zoro scrunches up his toes. He's reached up by this point and is playing with the surgeon's dark locks. It sends pleasant vibrations down Law's neck.
Law likes this feeling. He lets out a small groan all the while jerking them both off.
"L-Law~" Zoro calls out in a pleasing fashion as he subconsciously thrusts his hips forward.
The surgeon looks up and smirks.
"What?" he teases. "Gonna cum, baby?"
Zoro nods. "Yes- hah."
Law begins going harder so they both can get a good release. Zoro bucks his hips before cumming. Law cums right after. Thankfully the surgeon thought ahead and covered them both up so they wouldn't make too much of a mess.
The green haired swordsman lets out a small staggered sigh and lays his head back with a small
*thud*
noise.
After getting cleaned up, Zoro hops off of the logs and staggers a bit. Law helps him get steady before letting go. The surgeon leans down for one final kiss before transporting Zoro away with the logs. Zoro blinks and he's now back with his crew. "...tease..." the swordsman mumbles as he stomps away from the large pile of wood with a smirk on his face.
"We have to find Sanji! We have to bring him back to us!!" Luffy shouts to the heavens themselves with his arms splayed out in the air. Nami bops him on the head, not very hard, mind you.
Both captains discuss what their next courses of actions will be.
Luffy mainly just interrupts or nods his head like he's listening. The surgeon sighs and leaves it at that. "I'll take, Nami, Brook and Chopper. You can protect the rest of my crew," Luffy states. Zoro overhears and smirks at his captain antics. Law's heart starts beating a bit faster at the words. Luffy looks the surgeon dead in the eyes before speaking carefully, "keep Zoro safe for me. I know you two are close. Don't break his heart either. If I find that you have, I will personally rip your off your b-"
"I get it, Mugiwara!" Law interrupts. He doesn't want to hear the rest. The surgeon thinks he might've known where the Straw Hat captain was going with it....
Woof
Luffy smiles, nods and pads off to save his cook.
Law sighs and drags his long boney fingers down his face. He's had it up to here with the Straw Hat captain, but alas, he's a good person at heart. Law understands, he's just not the best at acknowledging emotions of other people, but he can always try...
Sigh
"Hey~" a voice calls out.
The surgeon opens his eyes and stares down at the green haired swordsman. "I guess I get to go with you," the man states with a bright smile. Law blushes a little. He hums in agreement. "It's not that I don't want the cook to come back to us, it's just.... I don't wanna go rescue his royal ass," Zoro half jokes. Law smirks and pats Zoro's head. "What was that for?" the green haired swordsman asks in a bit of a daze with a goofy smile. "Nothing," Law closes his eyes, "lets go," he states as he opens his eyes and takes Zoro by the hand to lead him off to see his captain once more.
Robin, Usopp, Franky, Zoro, Law, some minks and the rest of Law's crew all watch as Luffy gathers his crew mates and Pedro in his arms and jumps off backwards. What everyone failed to notice was that Luffy accidentally grabbed Zoro's arm too. Law lets out a frustrating sigh as he closes his eyes, he sidedly feels a swift breeze next to him and a scream. "Luffy! WRONG PERSON!" Zoro shouts in terror as he goes down and out of sight. Law stares wide eyed as his boyfriend goes over the edge of the elephant with the Straw Hat captain. Maybe Luffy wasn't thinking? Some of the Straw Hat crew try their best to stifle their giggles, the ones that are still on the back of the elephant that is. The Heart Pirates stare in shock and the minks all go wide eyed.
Sigh
Law's group eventually gains Zoro back once they're all down. Once down, Law notices how all the people, the Straw Hat captain has brought down, had hit him. Luffy apologizes. Zoro hit him too, but pats him on the head before he leaves. "Stay safe Captain."
Luffy giggles.
[At this point in the story, I'm going to switch perspectives to Luffy instead of Zoro.]
After Zoro's gone. On the Thousand Sunny, Luffy sits up and stretches. His body and face feel sore from the beating he received, but he kind of knew what was going to happen afterwards. He just didn't really think it through.
"I thought I was going to die, yohohoho- wait, I'm already died!" Brook jokes.
"Knock it off!" Nami shouts as he chops the skeleton's head. She can still feel her heart beating like crazy.
"Oh no...." Carrot mumbles as she lays on the deck if the ship, "I thought I was going to have a heart attack..."
"Sorry," Luffy apologizes to his crew mates and the two minks that came with him again.
When everyone else seems to find somewhere to be, Luffy finds himself sitting alone on the lion's head. His heart hurts to leave some of his crew members behind, but it hurts even worse to know that Sanji, his lover, is out there somewhere.... It honestly breaks his heart enough to send him into deep thought. He brings his knees up to his chest and wraps his arms around them in order to think.
'I need to find Sanji. We can't do this without him! He promised that he'd help me become pirate king, and I promised him that I'd help him find the all blue!...... So, why? Does he not trust us?? Me?...... Did I do something wrong? Does he not think we're strong enough??!' he lets out a low breath. He feels like crying. 'I hope he doesn't marry her..... I love Sanji, but.....if he marries her.... No, that won't happen...' Luffy's mind holds little to no doubt that his cook will marry that girl, but it's always a lingering thought to think that he might choose him instead. Maybe not..... Who knows.
"Luffy, I've been calling you for like- five minutes," Nami interjects his thoughts.
The captain puts on a smile and looks up to his navigator. "Sorry, Nami!"
She sighs.
—
When they get closer to Big Mom's territory, the waters turn different shades of bright colors. Luffy goes fishing and soon enough catches a large fish. Chopper says it's poisonous, but Luffy had already taken a large bite of the large fish's outside. The outside skin was the only thing was was poisonous if ingested it before cooking. The ship eventually happens upon a larger one. A pink and green haired couple of people stand tall on the bow looking down on them. Luffy calls them green and pink Sanji. Nami giggles at the names. Her captain suddenly collapses and a twing in her heart tells her that something bad is happening. The pink haired female with curly eyebrows floats down and leans down next to the redhead's captain. They all give her an odd look. "I'm not going to hurt him, I promise. If you're friends with my younger brother, of course I'll help," she explains in a sweet voice.
The pink haired female leans down and places her lips on Luffy's. It quickly turns into a deep kiss. The pink haired female is sucking the poison out of his body through their mouths. Everyone else, mind you, is blushing like mad watching this display unfold. Nami turns her attention to the green haired male on the other ship. He looks angry. Once the pink haired female is done, she pulls away with some saliva connecting their lips. Her wings do something and she licks her lips. Standing up and smiles once more. "I'm sorry for the sudden intrusion. I completely forgot to tell you my name. I'm Vinsmoke Reiju, and that green haired bastard on our ship is my youngest brother, Vinsmoke Yonji."
The others stare in shock at her choice of words. It sounds as if she doesn't really like her brother.
"I heard that, Reiju!" Yonji shouts down jumping up and down like a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum.
"If you would excuse me, it would seem that I have some matter to attend to."
Her smile his devilish and kind. She floats back up to her ship and they both part ways. In a way, she reminds everyone of a pink haired Robin in the way she acts.
Time passes and Luffy eventually finds himself in a town made of candy! He and Chopper dig into someone's house- building? It just tasted so good....
The Straw Hats and Minks stare in shock. "Idiot!" Nami shouts.
They end up meeting the owner of said 'house' it was really her shop. They go to another location and talk about the upcoming wedding with her and their cook. Luffy feels rage within him. He doesn't let it show, just to hear her talking about it....breaks his heart. He wants to walk away from the girl, but also wants to find Sanji, so he stays until they are forced out of the place.
Luffy finds himself getting lost in thought a little too frequently lately.
Nami, Brook and Chopper all notice.
Finally! Yay! They've found Sanji. Luffy feels his heart beating faster. He likes Sanji a lot, but hasn't yet told him in fear that the cook might stop being as close with him. Let me explain a little about their relationship...
When Luffy first met Sanji he thought that the blonde was the cutest man he's ever seen. After hearing about the man's dream to see the fable of the All Blue, he had no choice but to take the blonde with him. After a small period of time, they began seeing each other in the night. It was just for a quick fuck, but Luffy wanted to see it as something more, he just wasn't sure if the blonde felt that way. After losing his brother, thoughts of his crew members kept him going, as well as Sanji. Especially Sanji. Luffy wanted to tell the blonde how he felt, but chickened out many times. Even Luffy gets scared sometimes.
The thing is, when they all met back up and went down to Fishman island, he overheard Sanji talking with Zoro about how liking the same sex was wrong..... He didn't really want to listen after that, but low-and-behold they still had their one night stands.
Luffy didn't want to do it anymore, so he stopped, he was feeling a bit used. That had been around Dressrosa. They had a fight unseen by any crew members or allies. It hurt Luffy to know that one of his crew members was hurting so greatly. He wanted to help Sanji with his demons, but it wasn't working. The blonde didn't want to listen. Then after defeating Doflamingo and finding out that he left the crew really threw Luffy off course. It upset his mind and heart greatly.
On Zou, Zoro and Luffy talked about it. Zoro seemed to be the only one aware of their 'relationship' so far. They talked for a while and a Luffy cried, something he doesn't do in front of any other crew members. He really trusts Zoro like a brother. In a way, in Luffy's eyes, Zoro acts like Ace to him and he doesn't want to let that go.
"Luffy-san?" Brook speaks up.
"Yes? What is it?" he asks with a smile.
"Are you okay?" Nami pipes in.
"You've been staring off for a little bit.." Chopper intervenes.
The captain forces a laugh.
They can tell.
"I'm fine. Just, thinking is all!" Luffy half lies with a big smile. Nami can tell that in her captain's eyes, he's hurting even more so then they are.
"Don't think too hard," Nami states.
The group chuckles at the statement.
"Sanji!" Luffy calls out as he pads over to his cook. Sanji struts over and kicks his ex captain in the face sending Luffy flying through the air. Luffy can practically hear it, hear his heart shattering into many pieces as it breaks and hits the ground with his body. The two fight until Sanji ends up kicking his ex captain into the ground. Luffy lays there in a pool of his own blood, unmoving and heartbroken. He feels like crying his eyes out. It doesn't hurt as bad as loosing Ace, but it's close to it...
He faintly hears Nami shouting something before he hears Sanji's footsteps padding further away from him.
When the carriage is gone, Luffy slowly sits up only falling a few times. Nami rushes over and drops to her knees next to him. "Luffy, are you-" she stops herself until seeing her captain's face. He's crying and bleeding out of a few places. "Nami," he sobs out in a very broken voice that she can see he's trying very hard to hide. "He's gonna come back to us, right?" he asks as tears stream down his face as he looks over to Nami with a faint smile.
Her heart breaks at the sight of him.
She starts crying too, and goes in to hug her captain tightly. She can't ever forgive him for doing this to Luffy. Ever. Luffy berries his face in her shoulder and she rocks them, slowly, side to side while gently rubbing circles on his back to calm him down. Luffy only lets her and Zoro see him cry. He always puts on a fake face when he's around the others if he's hurting badly. It's not that he doesn't trust them, he does, he just has to be stronger around people as to not seem so childish.
Sometime later, Luffy finds himself running every which way to find the cook. He looks high and low, but can't seem to find him anywhere. He's just escaped from being nailed inside of a book, now what?.... When running through the halls of the very large castle, he finds himself in a room. Some guards rush past the door and he blinks, looking around.
'Pink Sanji?' he thinks, standing up.
From not eating for a few days, Luffy's stomach rumbles. The lady giggles and offers him some food. He refuses, "I refuse. I only eat stuff that Sanji makes!" the Straw Hat captain firmly states with his arms crossed. He wobbles from side to side a little bit.
"You know," she starts, "Sanji talked about you a lot."
Luffy blinks in confusion. His broken heart begins to hurt again.
"What?"
"In a way, I think he was talking about how much he loves you. By the sound of things, you're an amazing captain that he'd never purposely leave behind," she explains with a soft smile. She sits down on a chair. Luffy notices the bandage around her leg, but doesn't say anything.
Luffy nods, he still doesn't quite understand what she's talking about.
"Loves me?" he mimics.
She nods.
Luffy blushes a little, but only a little. He sticks his nose in the air and pouts, "I'm gonna find Sanji and bring him back, no matter the cost!" Reiju giggles as he launches himself out the window, she face drops to a what-the-fuck-just-happened expression. Luffy runs and fights his way back to their meeting point all the while getting even more injured. He's tired, cold, wet, hungry and shaking.
When he finally has time to breathe, he drops to his knees.
"Ugh..." he groans as he lays back on the dead tree.
Not longer after, he hears footsteps and the smell of a cigarette, even through the rain. He opens his eyes weakly to find Sanji standing in front of him with a basket. The cook throws the basket over and Luffy eats everything, even though most of it is falling apart. After eating Sanji's delicious meal, he smiles brightly.
Sanji looks away.
Luffy stands up and pads his way over to the cook to hit him in the head. He goes flying to the other side of the battlefield where he ends up on his hands and knees. Luffy pads over and stands before the cook.
"....Luffy.....I'm so sorry.....I-I never meant to hurt you like that. I wanna go back to the Sunny," Sanji sobs.
Luffy giggles and extends an arm out to him.
"Then come back with us!"
Luffy bends down and pulls Sanji into a hug. He kisses the blonde's neck but not before slapping him on the face. Sanji turns to face his captain once more, he deserved it, he likes to think. Luffy's still gripping onto his shirt. "Luffy~" Sanji whines as he's trying to get away from his rubber captain via squirming. The rubber man notices this and tackles the blonde to the ground pulling Sanji into a deeper kiss as if to say, you're mine.
After a few minutes go by, Luffy finally pulls away and smiles down brightly at his cook.
Sanji hums and looks away. "Idiot," he mumbles.
"Sanji."
"Hmm?"
"What am I to you?"
"Besides being my captain?"
Luffy nods in all seriousness.
Sanji sits himself up. Luffy's head is looking down, so the blonde can't see his face.
"You're mine and I'm yours. Luffy?"
Luffy lightly pushes his touch away. He looks up. Glazed over eyes stare him down. "What you did really hurt me..... I know you know this. I wouldn't just leave you. I don't do that. I may not fully understand every situation we're all in, but I'm trying." Luffy pulls Sanji into another hug as he lets out a soft whimper.
"Don't leave me like that again."
"........I promise, captain."
"I love you, Sanji."
The blonde's face glows red and even in the dim morning light, Luffy can see it. Sanji starts crying again. He longs to hear those words.
After discussing what their next move should be with Nami in the mirror dimension, Luffy and Sanji make their way to find the others. When they finally meet up, everyone devises a plan.
"Ah~ ugh......" Luffy groans as he sits in a tub. Water makes him very drowsy. Sanji notices this and helps his captain out of the water. After drying off, the two make their way into the bathroom. Sanji needs to comb his hair and Luffy needs to dry his. After his hair is dry, the rubber captain practically tackles Sanji to the ground. "What're-" is all Sanji can get out before Luffy shoves his tongue in the blonde's mouth.
Sanji hums in the sensation. He starts slowly rolling his hips while Luffy grinds down.
A quick gasp of breathe comes from the blonde before they continue kissing.
Luffy's always like Sanji's hair so he combs his fingers through it while dominating the situation. There's a part of him that wants to get back at Sanji for hurting him so badly, so he pins the cook to the cupboards and snakes a hand down to the man's crotch. He cups and pushes slightly, Sanji gasps out and spreads his legs. "Now, be good a good boy for daddy~" Luffy whispers.
Sanji shudders in his clothes, his pants and boxers are taken off. That's all he had on. Sanji didn't think Luffy had it in him to do something like this!
Within a blink of an eye, Sanji finds himself with his captain's penis inside of him. Without a second to spare, Luffy begins thrusting. The blonde covers his mouth as to not make so much noise. "Luffy!" Sanji growls. "Shh~ be good for daddy, baby."
Sanji tenses and almost releases.
The rubber captain now has one of the cook's legs up in the air as he pounds into the man. Sanji's squirming around and rolling his eyes back in pleasure as his captain occasionally hits and brushes over his prostate. The blonde curls his toes and lets out a low moan as he cums onto his chest. Luffy cums inside. Sanji lets out a frustrating moan as he now has to clean it out. "That's payback for hurting me earlier," Luffy retorts as he pulls out.
They clean up and the blonde leaves the room first. He meets up with Nami whom ignores him. His heart breaks, but he knows he deserves it.....
After fighting Big Mom and helping Sanji's 'family' escape, the Straw Hats run back to their ship. Little did they know, Big Mom was right behind them, chasing them all the way back to their ship. Somehow a miracle strikes them and they get away from Whole Cake Island. Nami hugs Carrot and they leap for joy!
A couple of day later, they get a newspaper from the News Coo. Luffy gets his new bounty and finds it upsetting. "Awe! Why is it so low?!" he shouts in frustration. "Move your fingers," Nami bluntly states the obvious. He moves his fingers out of the way and his facial expression drops.
1,500,000,000
A huge smile presents itself onto his face. Sanji's excited too. All their bounties went up.
"Oi, Luffy. Your father is on the front page."
"Huh?" The captain waddles over and takes the paper. He stares on in- I'm not sure what kind of expression he's making. It's an readable one. "Have you not seen your dad before?"
Luffy shakes his head before tilting his head to the side.
Nami's eyes lower in sadness for her captain. She's never met her biological parents before either, but Bellimare showed her pictures of them. She pats his head before leaving the deck to the female quarter's. Sanji sits next to his captain and looks at the paper too. "Would you ever want to meet him?" the cook asks as he turns to look at Luffy.
The rubber man shrugs and hands the newspaper over to Brook and the rest of them to see.
"Maybe someday. It's not like I'd seek him out or something. If we happen to cross paths, I suppose," he shrugs again. Sanji hugs his captain and burries his face into the man's shoulder. "I get it," he mumbles. Luffy smiles and pins the cook to the deck. "Wanna spar??" he asks with sparkling eyes. "Shouldn't you rest first?" the cook offers, but Luffy doesn't care.
As soon as they're about to spar, Luffy drops to the deck. Sanji, thinking he's hurt, quickly makes his way over to the rubber man. When he bends down however, the rubber man is snoring away. 'Tired little bugger.' The cook ruffles his captain's hair before picking him up and taking him to the male quarter's.
They fall asleep in each other's arms in Sanji's bunk.
[Switching from Luffy's POV back to Zoro's POV]
After they had split up from the other group, Zoro feels very cooped up in the submarine. He works out, but finds it's not the same. Why would it be? He doesn't know what he was thinking.
As he paces back and forth, he quickly gets bored. When he stops pandering around, a deep voice seems to interrupt his thinking. It's Kitetsu. 'Wanna go on a little walk? It'll be fun~' The voice teases. Zoro shakes his head side to side to try to get rid of the voice. He knows this doesn't work, but he does it anyway. 'Can't just shake me out of your head. You made a deal with me, Roronoa~ For great power, you gave up your sense of direction. What a fool. I haven't had a single welder do that before. You really are an-' Zoro cuts off Kitetsu by stating, "shut up," he whisper shouts to himself.
Law wanders by and sees the green haired swordsman talking to himself.
"Zoro-ya."
Zoro yelps and quickly spins around to come eye to eyes with his boyfriend. He visibly tenses up. "Y-yes?" he squeaks out. This isn't the first time he's done this before. He reacted in a similar way back when Mihawk had complemented him for the first time. Perona laughed at him.
The surgeon smiles and pads over to the green haired swordsman.
"Who were you talking to?" Law accuses.
Zoro gulps. "I- No- um, no one...."
Law looks down to Zoro's swords. "Is it your cursed sword?" he guesses.
Zoro's eye visibly goes wide.
"What?"
"What?" Law mimics.
"You- why? Why did you say that?"
Law shrugs. "I've heard of some cursed blades talking with their welder through telepathy before."
Zoro stares on in disbelief. Just as he's about to say something, the ship jerks backwards for a split second and Zoro goes flying into Law. They both end up on the ground.
"You alright?" Law asks, sitting up and rubbing his head. Zoro sits up and touches his side. "Yeah.... What happened?"
"I don't know."
The surgeon gets up and extends a hand out to Zoro. Zoro feels special and takes his boyfriend's hand. Law smirks at the green haired swordsman's antics. "I'll be right back. Right behind you is my quarter's." Law whispers in the green haired swordsman's ear. The surgeon leaves but not before slapping Zoro on the ass. Zoro tenses and flushes. He pads forwards and into Law's quarter's. Everything still seems the same as it was over a year ago.
He trails his fingers along a desk in the room.
Looking up he walks over to the window looking out into the sea around them. Looking out it he sees many different fish. He turns back. Still no Law. Already feeling tired, he props his swords on the cabinet and lays down on the couch with a small Bepo plushie within his grip. He closes his eye allowing himself to drift off.
When he wakes up, he feels something under his head. He opens his eye and sees a taller figure with closed eyes sitting next to him. He figures it out now. Law must've come in sometime after he had fallen asleep and sat down next to him, placing his head on the surgeon's lap.
Zoro sits up, placing the plushie aside and climbing into Law's lap. Law's eye flutter open.
"You're finally awake," Law states in a low voice.
"Yep...." Zoro plays with the man's hair while answering. "You said that you wanted me here. Now, what was that for?" Zoro asks with a sly smirk.
Law grabs the back of his head and pulls their heads together, connecting their lips. When the surgeon finally pulls away, he answers. "I wanted to get you alone, Zoro-ya." Law's voice is so soothing and hot that Zoro gets lost in it sometimes. The green haired swordsman hums. "Is that so?" Zoro teases.
Law gets up and pins Zoro to the couch on the backboard of it. They're still sitting up. The surgeon picks the green haired swordsman up and takes him to the bed before plopping Zoro on it. He immediately climbs on top and pins the green haired swordsman down. Law grinds his hips as he kisses Zoro's neck. Zoro groans a little. "Mmm~ Law~"
Hearing his name coming out of his lover's mouth sends shivers up Law's spine.
"You know," he starts, "I promised Mugiwara that I'd take good care of you. That's exactly what I'm going to do, Zoro-ya~" Law growls against the green haired swordsman's neck, sending chills down Zoro's body. He feels himself absentmindedly grinding back down on Law as his boyfriend leaves hickies on his neck at torso.
They both undress until Law's left in his underwear and Zoro's left in nothing.
Zoro's eye becomes lidded as he looks up to the surgeon above him. Law can tell he want me this as much as him, but he still has to ask. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"
Zoro nods. "I am. I want you inside me, Law. Don't chicken out on me~" Zoro teases. Law takes the hint and pokes the sides of the green haired swordsman's torso. Zoro flinches and squirms around as Law touches and pinches his nipples. The bed lets out a small but subtle squeak. It's not loud by any means. Law caresses Zoro's face before smirking and getting off of the bed to rummage around in his nightshade table.
Zoro props himself up with his elbows and waits.
When the surgeon finds what he was looking for, he climbs back onto the bed. "Ready my love?"
Zoro nods.
"Verbally please~"
"Yes. I'm ready."
"Good boy."
Zoro hums at the praise.
"This might feel a little weird at first, but I can assure you," he kisses Zoro on the cheek, "it'll feel a hell of a lot better later."
Zoro chuckles.
"What's so funny?"
"You."
"Why me?"
"You've done this before, haven't you? You said 'assure you', remember? So, they've played with yourself like this before. Am I right or am I wrong?" Zoro's got Law all figured out. The surgeon blushes a deep crimson and pops open the cap to the bottle in his hand. He doesn’t answer.
Zoro is right. Law has done this before. After a long and stressful day, he would take a shower and release a bit of tension in two different ways, if you know what I mean. Since he's a surgeon, he knows both the female and male bodies pretty well. He's had a few partners before, none of them lasted long, but he still has a bit of practice under his belt.
Law places some lube on Zoro's entrance and slowly sticks a finger in. Moving it around, the surgeon looks up and sees that the green haired swordsman has his eye shut tightly. "Remember to breath, sweetheart. Don't want you passing out on me."
Zoro hums, but the hum sounds like a moan.
"Zoro-ya, have you done this before?" Law asks, very sneakily sticking a second finger in. Zoro squirms around some more before opening his eye to answer. "N-not like this. I've had sex be-before, b-but not like-like this," he admits with a flushed face. Law nods. "Okay, I'm going to add the third finger now."
With the third finger in and wiggling around, Zoro feels a bit of a stretch to his lower area. It hurts a bit. He slightly grips onto the sheets below him. Law notices. He leans over, fingers still in the green haired swordsman, and caresses the swordsman's face. "Relax a little, baby. It'll feel really good once you do." He kisses Zoro's cheek before leaning back and taking his fingers out. Law squirts some lube out onto his erect penis and lines himself up.
"Ready?"
Zoro nods with a breath. "Y-yes."
The surgeon slowly pushes in until he's halfway. He takes his gaze away from his dick to Zoro's face. He sees that the young swordsman's face is tensing up quite a bit. "Zoro-ya. If it hurts to much-"
"No."
"No?" Law mimics.
"No. Don't stop. Th-the pain....I...like it," Zoro half mumbles.
Law blushes. 'He likes pain? That's kinda kinky~' he thinks. He pushes all the way in, bottoming out his boyfriend. Zoro hums in pleasure as he arches his back. A few tears escape from Zoro's tear ducts. It hurts badly, but the stretching feeling feels oddly good. Once Zoro's ready for Law to move, he tells him. "I'm ready. Please move now."
Law does just that.
He slowly begins thrusting back and forth. Zoro grips the bedsheets harder as the full feeling rubs back and forth inside of him. He seems to relax a little bit too. The surgeon soon picks up the speed, feeling it more. Zoro starts grinding back to meet Law's energy. Law takes note. He likes seeing Zoro so needy for him.
"Law~ Ple-ase go f-f-fASter!" Zoro asks with a pleading eye. The surgeon lifts the man's leg up and thrusts even faster. The green haired swordsman arches his back in a pleasing manor, he feels like his brain might overheat. "Ah~ hah- hah~ fuck~" Zoro moans. "I'm close!"
Law agrees with him. "Me too."
With a couple more hard thrusts and Zoro cums on his chest. Each thrust that Law does, even more cum comes out. It's a euphoric feeling to say the least. Law pulls out and cums onto the green haired swordsman's chest too. Both of them are panting wildly, trying to calm themselves from their highs. "Was I too rough?"
Zoro chuckles. "Nah, not hard enough-" he teases. Law shakes his head playfully.
Zoro lets out a long and heartfelt sigh.
"We should clean up," Law suggests. Zoro hums in agreement. The surgeon cleans them both up and they head to the shower. It's a rainfall shower so they fit inside comfortably. They go for one last round in the shower before getting out. Shower sex is great and all, but there's a risk on slipping. Law was careful to not let that happen.
Padding back out of the bathroom, Zoro plops himself on Law's bed and snuggles into the fresh sheets. Once the surgeon is finished with putting the dirty sheets in his hamper, he pads himself over to the bed and gets in under the covers as well. Zoro's already snoring away. So, without waking him up, Law kisses the younger swordsman on the head before fully laying down.
—
A few days later, they arrive in Wano. It's a beautiful sight to say the least. The high mountainous island with waterfalls surrounding the edges and absolutely stunning cherry blossom trees litter the higher parts of the island. They're not in bloom yet, but Zoro can tell that they're cherry blossom trees. After all, he did grew up with them around.
A sudden splash causes everyone on deck to look over to it. They're giant koi fish. Usopp stares on in amazement. Robin giggles at the sight. Zoro also watches in awe. Law announces to everyone to get back in the submarine so they can get up there. They all agree and file back inside.
Climbing the large scale waterfall presents itself as a bit of a challenge, but it's not impossible.
Once up, Law and half of the Straw Hat crew all get out and look around. It's beautiful. The vibrant colors, trees and scenery makes their eyes widen.
"This is amazing," Usopp states in awe. "It truly is." Robin agrees.
"Alright everyone. Since you're under my care, you listen to what I have to say." Law steps out into the deck.
The Straw Hats agree and listen to his plan.
They're all to act as if they don't know each other and take on certain rolls as to not act suspicious. Gather as much Intel as possible and keep a low profile. Since all they're stuff and money is on the Thousand Sunny, Law buys them all clothes. The group thanks him for all he's done up until this point. He just nods. He doesn't really know how to act towards this kind of thing. The Straw Hats with him seem a little calmer and levelheaded then some of the others on that crew.
Usopp becomes a merchant, selling useless items with his lies. Frankly helps out and eventually begins work at in building houses in and around the capital. Robin takes in the roll as becoming a geisha. She's not a prostitute, she's just a dancer. Zoro isn't really sure of his roll, mind you. He just kind of wanders around, gathering intel around the land in many different areas.
In one particular area, he was eating some sushi when he got a bad feeling about it.
Thanking the man for the food, and paying, he quickly rushes out of the hut and into the nearby forest. He falls to his knees and starts breathing heavily. 'Panic attack? No....I don't think it's that....Then wha-' His thoughts interrupted by a deeper voice. 'This is something else entirely kid,' Kitetsu explains. "What?" Zoro mumbles out, but he doesn't get a reply. His body suddenly gets a jolt of pain through it and he hunches over to hold his stomach.
Instead of throwing up, he passes out right there on the forest floor.
Upon waking up, the bright sun shines through the canvas of the trees overhead. Zoro’s body feels different and weird. Thinking that he's accidentally let his Haki slip, he sits up too quickly and gives himself a head rush. This has been happening a lot more lately. He groans....... '....!...' He thinks something's definitely wrong with him. His white yukata and jittoku haori seem to almost fall off of his body as if they didn't fit him. What's going on?
He lifts his hand out in front of him and it's smaller then before. He furrows his brow at this. This sends him into a panic and he starts touching all over himself to see what's wrong. His scar is still there, but his torso seems thinner. His chest feels a bit heavier and bigger, his hair is much longer, it's about as long as his waist now...... "The fuck??!" he shouts. His voice is much higher now compared to how it was last night. He covers his mouth and looks around. Where is he?
He shakes his head.
'I need to find Law. Maybe he can tell me what the hell is going on,' he thinks, trying his best to keep his composer. He stands up and everything falls down passed his smaller shoulders. He still has a muscular body, but it's not nearly as much as it was before. He sighs. Even his sighs sound weird! The green haired swordsman ties everything up way tighter then it was before. When he finally has his clothing and swords good and tight to his body, he takes his first step with this weird body. Something feels horribly wrong.
Something's missing.
He looks down and pats the place where his dick would be, it's not there. His heart drops to his stomach. "How the hell did this happen....?" he asks no one in particular in complete and utter disbelief. "Am I-" As if his question is answered, he hears a deeper voice in the back of his head. 'You are. Believe it or not, the proof is your body, kid.'
Zoro freezes.
"Was it the sushi I ate?" he wonders out loud. He eventually finds his way out of the forest and over to the sushi shack he ate at yesterday. "Welcome. What can I-" The clerk stops. "You look familiar. Say, we're you here last night, miss?"
'Miss? Oh...right,' she thinks.
"What kind of sushi did you serve me last night?" Zoro asks. Referring to herself as a 'she' is going to take awhile of getting used to.
"Um.....let me think."
"I don't have all day here, sir."
"Hold your horses..... Right! I served you some Onigirl and Makizushi!" he proudly states.
She hums.
"That can't be right...."
"What? Are you sure about that?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Sushi doesn't just turn you into the opposite sex, old man," she growls out.
"I suppose you're-" He stops himself entirely. His facial expression drops to a horrified one and he turns to face Zoro. She takes a step back.
"What?" she asks.
"I served you the wrong sushi."
"See! I told you! Th-then what did you serve me?" Her brow furrows.
"You don't remember?"
"No."
"........Some new type of sushi I just added on the menu. Last night, you and another customer were sitting here, eating and talking, when one of you order my new type of sushi."
"What was in it?"
"I was right though. You did order the Onigirl and the Makizushi, but the other person you were with ordered the new Fruishi. They didn't eat it, you did. A little bit after, you excused yourself and took off somewhere." The man shrugs, ignoring Zoro's question in a way.
Zoro stands there horrified. Had she eaten a devil fruit? Or was it something else?....
"Are you gonna be alright?" the clerk asks.
Zoro nods and turns to walk off in some direction. The green haired swordsman seems like she's in shock rather then being upset or mad. 'Was that guy serving devil fruits? Now that I think about it more, that sushi did taste awful. Why the hell did I eat that? Who was that person I was with last night? They might know something I don't,' she thinks. 'Can I turn back? Maybe I can!'
She stops walking and tries to turn herself back into a man.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
It doesn't work.
She groans in frustration. 'I need to find Law, now,' she thinks, beginning to walk down the dirt path again. The trees overhead block out some of the gradually growing sun. It was early morning when the swordsman woke up in the forest, the sun was barely out then, but now, it's getting brighter out.
In the capital, she wanders around, frantically looking around for her boyfriend. "Law, where are you?" she whispers to herself. She manages to accidentally bump into someone. She looks up to apologize, but stops. "Ussssss- mmm." She stops herself from saying his name. The sniper stares in confusion at the green haired female in front of him. "Zoro?" the sniper whispers. She nods.
Usopp gestures for her to follow him. She does.
Once they're a safe distance away from peeping eyes, he turns around and furrows his brow at her. "What happened to you? If it is really you!" He jumps back a little scared. "Are you kidding? You're really skeptical of me?"
"Yes."
She sighs and gently tugs on her yukata to show her scar across her upper chest not daring to go any lower.
The sniper calms down and seems to relax.
"It is you!" He runs up to the green haired swordsman and hug her tightly. Pulling back, he takes a step back and places his hands on his hips. "How in this world did this happen?"
She shrugs.
"I don't know.....I was eating sushi when I suddenly felt sick."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"..."
"I woke up like this. Apparently, I was eating some new kind of sushi. Some type of fruit sushi thing?"
Usopp goes wide eyed.
"Do you think you could've-"
"Eaten a devil fruit? Yes! That's why I'm freaking the fuck out right now!" Zoro says with her arms in the air. She’s pacing around trying to calm herself down.
"Calm down. I'm sure we can sort this out."
Usopp leads Zoro over to where Law is located to see if the surgeon knows anything.
Law stares on in shock when they first arrive. "What....."
Zoro looks away. She doesn't want to see that shocked face anymore, all the while she holds her arms covering her chest. "He isn't sure what kind of fruit it was. He had already chopped it up by that point," Zoro explains. The Heart Pirates don't know what to say. "Salt water," Law says. They all look at him with an odd expression on. He turns back to his hut and walks in. They all wait for him to emerge.
When he does it's with a bowl of water.
"Stick your hand in. We'll see if it was a devil fruit then."
She lifts her hand into the bowl and they wait. She doesn't feel any different, she stays standing until she takes her hand out of the water. "Anything?" Law asks. "No. Nothing." They all sigh in frustration. Usopp furrows his brow. "Remember when you told me about that strange person you were eating sushi with?" the sniper asks.
Zoro nods.
"What if they had something to do with it?"
"You being up a good point, but who and why would they do this?" the green haired swordsman asks aloud to anyone listening.
"Maybe..." Law hums.
"We have to find that person!" Shachi shouts. They all agree and spilt off in different directions, but before they do, Usopp talks with Zoro one last time. "How're you holding up?"
"Fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"It didn't look like it back there. Is it from the salt water? Are you hiding-"
"No. I'm not. I just feel a little dizzy right now," she explains gently reaching up to touch her head. She wobbles a little, something feels more off then before.
She stumbles a little bit when she's walking, but doesn't fall. Usopp takes note and moves to hold her upright.
"Alright then.... Oh! We need to get you some new clothes," he explains. She tilts her head to the side. "What do you mean? I'm fine with what I'm wearing."
"I know you may be, but they people around might give you weird looks and think that something's up!" he basically explains in one breath.
She blinks.
"Do I really have-"
"Yes!" Usopp grabs her by the wrist and drags her off to buy a kimono.
"Usopp-"
"No. It looks fine."
She sighs.
Usopp helped her pick out a black kimono with pink cherry blossom branches litter across the fabric. The edges were a red and a gold color. Tying the whole piece together is a red sash tied into a bow at the back. The sleeves hanged long and low, but not low enough to touch the ground. Her breasts and thin waist caused some people to stop and stare. If she thinks about it, she's around Nami's chest size, maybe a bit larger or smaller? The swordsman doesn't really know...
[Note: I made Zoro’s titties a little smaller in the story. Sorry 😌]
She pulls the clothing a bit tighter. Their stares make things creeper.
Usopp fixes her hair into a messy bun with some long strands hanging down and he finishes it off with a beautiful flower pin.
"I feel like I look ridiculous. Everyone's staring," she whisper shouts over to him. He laughs.
"What's so funny?" she snarls.
"You. I-I mean, you look beautiful Zoro, that's why they're staring," the sniper explains with a bit of a stutter. She covers her mouth and nods.
"Yeah, whatever. Thanks," she mumbles.
"What?"
"Nothing!" she answer back louder. "See you around," she half heartedly announces before turning around.
"See you around, stranger!" He waves a goodbye to the green haired swordsman and wanders off somewhere. Zoro's head was turned so she could see the man waving to her. She sighs and end up wandering around until she spots some weird looking guys huddled around map.
—
"It's that way, see?!" the blue hair shouts rudely.
"No! You're blind, idiot. It's that way!" the green hair shouts at the blue haired male.
"Respect me, Yonji! I'm older then you!!" The blue haired male jumps at the green haired male Zoro will come to knows as Yonji.
"Would you both knock-" The redhead gets punched. Both blue hair and Yonji get smacked on their head.
Zoro walks right up to them.
"Do ya need someth-......." the blue haired male sudden stops himself from shouting. He stares on in awe as he tilts his sunglasses down so he can see the stunning green haired goddess better.
"Are you lost?" Zoro asks. Like she could help, of all people, with directions- pfffff.
"Yes act-" The redhead is cut off by the green haired male pushing him aside.
"What's a cutie like yourself doing all by yourself?" he tries flirting.
Zoro's facial expression stays neutral.
"Are you lost my lovely?" the blue haired male pipes in. Both of them are leaning in and holding either one of Zoro's smaller hands. Creeped out, she tries backing away, but before she can both creeps get knocked out of the way. The redhead stands tall with fury. "Would both of you knock it off already?!" he angrily shouts down to them.
She finally gets a better look at the now. They have curly eyebrows just like the cook does.
She squints her eye at the sight before her.
"My apologies, miss. They can be a bit of a handful at times-"
"Who're you calling a handful? You ungrateful piece of-"
"Would all of you shut up for one second?!" Zoro shouts above them all.
They all shut up and look at her.
"Do you need help with something?" she asks getting more annoyed now.
"Yes, we're-" the redhead is cut off.
"We're lost. Do you think you could point us in the right direction?~" the blue haired male asks with a lustful look in his eyes. 'He looks just like the cook,' she thinks.
She cringes. "You're quite rude, aren't you? Cutting him off like that, I mean." She sighs. "I'm not good with directions, but I can't tell this at least. You're holding your map upside down. Maybe you’re facing the wrong way? I think...."
The redhead flips the map and it's true, he was holding it upside down. He slowly turns and faces the direction of the capital. He finds exactly where they need to go within a few seconds now. The redhead flushes the color of his hair.
Turning back, he thanks her.
"Thank you too, young miss." The green haired male thanks her too. "You say you're not good with directions, but you helped us go in the right direction," the green haired male explains. "Maybe you're not so bad with them as you originally intend."
'He's an idiot,' she thinks.
She nods like she knows what she did.
"Uh, yeah. You're welcome. Oh! Wouldja look at the time." She looks up t ok the sun. "I've gotta get go-"
"Wait." The redhead holds out his hand out to her. "Who are you?" he asks with a bit of a head tilt.
Her heart drops for some odd reason.
"What?" she asks.
"What's your name, sweetheart?" the blue haired snarls in a kind of sense, more like tries his best not to act so stuck up. "Who's asking?" she asks.
"Us," the green haired male answers.
She crosses her arms. "Tell me your names first, sweetheart," she mimics the last part.
She's tricked them into their own corner. The blue haired male sighs loudly.
The redhead clears his throat. "I'm Vinsmoke Ichiji. The green haired one is my youngest brother, Yonji and the blue haired one is my younger brother, Niji."
She almost laughs out loud. 'They're his brothers?? Pfffff- that explains something,' she thinks.
She nods with a poorly hidden smirk.
"I'm Zorojuro, a wandering traveler from these lands," she states what she's supposed to, to keep her identity hidden. Niji gives her an odd and knowing look like Zoro's lying. She is, but can he really tell?
Ichiji smiles and thanks her. "It's nice of you to help us, Zorojuro. Thank you for your kindness." He bows, they all do. She's not used to this, so she stutters out a 'you're welcome' to them. "We must get g-" Ichiji is interrupted yet again.
"You look familiar." Niji points at her.
Yonji smacks his judgmental finger away. He glares over at his brother.
"From where, peabrain?" Zoro snaps back.
"Straw Hat's crew," Niji growls back.
'Shit!' she thinks.
Ichiji hums and agrees. So does Yonji.
She sighs.
"And if I said I was? Which I'm not."
"We wouldn't tell anyone," Ichiji offers. The brothers all nod their heads. She's surprised by their actions.
"Why?"
"Why?" Ichiji mimics.
"Why would you do that? Keep my identity a secret..."
"Because." Yonji and Niji take her hands again. "You're absolutely stunning my goddess-" they both say at the same time right before getting punched by Ichiji.
She places her hands behind her back as Ichiji drags them both off.
'What a bunch of weirdos.'
Her brow twitches thinking of how creepy the younger one was. She wanders off again.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! The next two chapters might take a bit to write, so I’m sorry if I don’t get the next chapter out in time. 😅
Chapter 8: Author’s Note 3
Summary:
Oh my goodness. Another Author’s Note?? -Not again. SMH 🤦♀️ 😂
Notes:
Hello, I’m going to take a break from posting next week due to a trip I’m taking to see family.
I know I haven’t been posting much lately, but I promise after the trip, I will post another chapter. ^^ And since this story follows a CANON storyline, getting the material for the chapters will be a little more difficult then before. Thank you to everyone who’s stuck with me through the story so far. I really do appreciate all the hits, comments, bookmarks and kudos!! 🥹 You all are wonderful and have an amazing 2 weeks in the meantime! 💚🖤
Chapter Text
🖤💚🖤💚🖤💚
Chapter 9: Preparing For The Battle
Summary:
This chapter talks about relationship troubles, hurt, happiness, reuniting and teamwork.
It also contains spoilers for those who haven’t been able to watch or read up to the roof top scenes and before that.
Notes:
I’m back! Posting a new chapter 🤗 Sorry it’s taken as long as it has, the last little bit has been an epiphany of chaos lol. Hope you enjoy!!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It’s been two days since Zoro’s went out to find out who did this to her. Still no luck. While wandering the city she spots Robin standing next to a Sushi Stand. They talk for a little bit. Apparently, Usopp told her about what happened to their swordsman and what she would be wearing too. The sniper told Robin to watch out for the green haired swordsman. Robin fixes her hair and asks her to join her inside the building where she was dancing and gathering information from. Zoro didn't know what she was getting into until she entered the building.
When the two walk into the dressing room, everyone stops and stares at the two. Zoro feels out of place.
"Who's she Orobin?" a female with golden locks asks.
"Some beautiful girl I found wandering the streets. She wanted to see what it was like in here and was thinking of possibly joining," Robin explains with a small giggle.
Some of the girls join in.
Zoro cringes, but keep her composure.
"You really are very beautiful. Do you have a name, sweetheart?" a girl with dark purple hair asks.
Zoro doesn't know what to do. When she's about to answer, Robin speaks up for her.
"Her name is Amaya."
Zoro nods and goes along with the act.
All the girls seem to perk up and get all giddy from hearing the name. 'Guess that throws out Law's plan out the window. I still haven't broken any laws yet- Hopefully not anytime soon. Lets see how far I can make this work,' Zoro thinks with a smile.
"Would you like to join us?" a girl with purple hair asks.
"You would fit right in!" another blonde pipes in.
"You really would!" the same blonde from earlier explains.
"What do you say?" a blue haired girl gently takes Zoro's hand into her own. He looks passed her and scans the room filled with girls. She turns back to the blue haired girl and nods. "I would love to," she says in an overly cheery voice. All the girls erupt with excitement.
Zoro turns back to Robin and she's trying her best not to laugh.
Zoro glares at her.
"Come with us! Lets get you ready for your first dance- Do you know how to dance and entertain?" one of the blonde girls asks. Zoro nods her head. In truth, she does, just not entirely what they're used to doing. The blonde smiles and helps Zoro to a spot right beside a make-up table. The green haired swordsman is seated down. A few girls begin playing with her hair and face. First, washing her face, and beginning to hound away with the make-up products right after drying and moisturizing.
Zoro closes her eye and lets the girls do whatever they want.
It's a little weird to be pampered like this, but she must admit, it's kind of nice.
"What's with the scar over your eye?" a girl to Zoro's left asks. Without opening her eye, she answers, "it can be a bit rough out there some days," she explains with a half hearted chuckle. It’s the truth. No day she’s had has really been restful and relaxed, she’s just been on survival mode for a lot of it.
She can hear some girls agreeing.
"It can be."
"I'm so sorry that happened to you."
"It must've been awful!"
"Scary in fact."
"Did a man do that to you?"
"That perv."
In truth, Zoro doesn't know what happened the first time. She remembers being out in that storm on that fateful day, but everything after that gets all fuzzy. Then there was that time with Mihawk.... She slightly scrunches her face for a split second. She hums in a lower tone of voice. "If I'm honest. I can't remember. That day was a bit fuzzy," she explains in truth.
"You can open you eyes now," the girl doing Zoro's make-up tells her.
"I can only open one sadly."
The girl understands.
Zoro opens her eye.
"Can you really not open your left eye at all?" the girl with purple hair asks.
Zoro shrugs.
"Never really tried after I lost it," Zoro explains.
She hears some auditable gasps from the girls in the room. She turns to look at them.
"You're missing an eye?" the girl with blue hair asks.
Zoro nods.
"This just won't do," a girl with dark green hair speaks up for the first time since Zoro's entered the room.
"We'll get you a new eye so you can feel normal again," a girl with black hair interjects.
Zoro doesn't know what to say. It's a nice gesture for someone she's just met today.
"Thank you all, but that really is-"
"It's fine," one of blonde girls says.
"It's our treat," the girl with blue hair says.
The green haired swordsman blushes a little bit. It won't be the same as having a real eye, but it'll be something to say the least. "You just met me. Why?" she asks again. Zoro wants to get to the bottom of this 'treatment'. Some of the girls giggle.
"You don't really know, do you?" the girl with black hair asks.
Zoro shakes her head.
"You see," the girl with blue hair begins. "It's like a tradition."
"Yep!" a blonde girl agrees.
"It it!" the other blonde girl agrees too.
"They mean helping others out, such as girls who have struggled with loss, abuse or are needing shelter. We may seem like these perfect beautiful women on the outside without any flaws, but inside, we were or are still hurting greatly. Being a geisha doesn't just mean dancing and spending time with men and women for money, it also helps girls like us stick together," a girl with teal hair explains. She turns back around to face Zoro.
She has large beautiful blue eyes, silky teal hair tied into a stunning hairstyle and a red kimono on.
"Komurasaki." Some girls gasp out.
"We're all glad to have you here, Amaya," Komurasaki happily announces with her hands together.
Some of the girls join in agreeing with her. Zoro doesn't know if they actually mean it, but whatever. At least her cover hasn't been blown. "Here." The girl who worked on her face hands her a beautiful yukata that sparkles red and gold in the sunlight. "You'll do amazing," a few of the girls cheer Zoro on as they all make their way into a large room.
The green haired swordsman never got this kind of support from any of the guys she's known over the many years she's been alive. Females just seem to be more supportive by nature? She isn't really sure how to word or explain it. It’s nice…
All girls disperse to different men in the room.
Zoro looks around and spots a male waving her over.
"Hello beautiful," he greats with a bit of a drunk tone.
Zoro giggles a little as she sits down. "You're too kind." She tries her best with being flirty. She isn't the best at flirting back with some people.
"You must be new around here. I would've recognized you sooner cause damn- *hic* you're stunning~" The man leans in closer to Zoro trying to touch her larger chest. Some of the girls notice and tense up a bit, but something they all didn't know was that Zoro knew how to deal with drunk people. The green haired swordsman gently holds the man's hand in her own and makes him look up at her.
She tilts her head to the side in a teasing manor.
"Now now," she says softly. "How about we look with our eyes instead of our hands? Hmm?~" she suggests in a kind of flirty tone. This makes the man’s face flush even deeper.
The man laughs goofily as he backs off with a lustful look in his drunk eyes. "You're quite a smart one- *hic* one my darling~" He takes another sip of whatever he was drinking. Possibly saké. The other girls defuse their tension and go back to flirting with the rich, drunk men.
—
After the men have left, the girls ask Zoro or Amaya as they know her as, if she really still does want to work with them. Zoro agrees, but mentions that she has to meet up with a friend before going out with them. They understand and the green haired swordsman takes off down the streets of the Flower Capital. Some people stop and stare in awe as she struts down the street. It feels weird to have so many eyes on her not knowing that she’s a pirate.
'This is very uncomfortable feeling. Why is everyone staring like that? I'm not beautiful in the slightest!- Right.... I look like this now....' she sadly thinks. When Zoro first seen how she looked back in the mirror with all those girls, the swordsman thought that she did look kinda pretty.... Not enough to say that she's out right stunning for crying out loud! When she comes to her senses she finds herself outside of the capital and in the direction of where the Heart Pirates are located.
Zoro takes a breath and begins walking forward, still in the yukata that the girl gave her and in the new kimono that Usopp bought her. She's lucky to have such great friends as them. Friends? Would she call the girls that helped her friends right away? Possibly, but not right now. She’s just met them.
Walking into the hut, she's hit with the stench of alcohol.
Shachi and Penguin are passed out drunk at the table in the kitchen, Jean is also passed out but against the wall instead of the table, Ikkaku, Uni and Cilone are all, also, passed out but they're all scattered around the floor. Zoro smiles to herself, this crew has always been the ones to pass out after drinking. She's gotten used to them, not like her own crew, but close enough.
"Law?" she calls out stepping over the drunkards as she makes her way towards the master bedroom.
He's not in the bed here, nor was he in the mess of crew members out in the kitchen and dining room. Where can he be?
She looks around the entire hut. He's not here. There's only one last place to check, the bathroom. She peeks her head in and sees Law in the bathtub slumped over. "Law!" she calls out, dropping to the floor and holding up his head to look at hers. "What're you doing?" she asks in disbelief.
He groans and looks at her with a goofy smile.
Zoro's eye goes wide and she lets her hand drop away from his cheek. "Oh- Z-Zoro~ You're b-back *hic*. Beautiful," he mumbles out in a very drunk state.
"Why do you have lipstick on your face?" she accuses.
He shrugs and smiles. "IuhDunno d-don’t," he staggers out, lumping words together.
Zoro's heart drops to her stomach.
"H-how come everyone's passed out drunk in the kitchen? What happened?" she asks with a hint of anger in her voice, but she’s mainly concerned.
He leans back and almost falls back into the water. She helps him out. He still has his underwear on at least. She isn't sure where the rest of his clothes went to though.
Wrapped in a towel, Law leans back against the wall in the bathroom and chuckles out.
"What's so funny? Answer my question."
"Idunnowha- *hic* wha-what your talkin bout," Law slurs.
"Why is everyone so-"
"Who're you?" a female voice interrupts Zoro's rant. She turns to look up to find out who the voice belongs to.
It's a black haired female with large amber eyes and a very slutty outfit on. Zoro stands up and turns to glare at the woman.
The green haired swordsman fakes an obvious chuckle. "And who are you?" she asks with fire in her voice.
"I asked you f-"
"Listen, sweetie, I don't know who you are, but this man right here, is mine. Whatever you did to him and his crew, I'm not standing for it."
"Who said I did anything?" the black haired female offers.
"The cameras in here that recorded everything will tell me," Zoro lies.
The female gets scared and begins looking around. The green haired swordsman can see that she's panicking. Zoro's lying obviously, there's no cameras in here, but the other lady doesn't know that.
"I-uh, I really didn't-"
"And I'll expose who you really are to the entire capital. Tell me what you did and this won't get out."
The female nods with fear in her eyes.
"We we're just messing around. One of his crew members asked me to come back with them. So-"
"So you did? Get on with it."
"Right! We got a little drunk and..." she trails off again.
"And?" Zoro growls.
"And I may have wanted a little action with him- but I swear I didn't know he was dating anyone! He’s just really hot and tempting….”
This statement seems to throw the green haired swordsman off a little bit. 'Why didn't Law say that he was dating anyone? Was he just that drunk? No.....he would've said something. Is she making this up? Am I overreacting?? I better not be overthinking this,” she thinks.
"I ah gotta get-"
"No. Stay. One last thing, then you can leave."
"What is it?" the black haired female asks.
"Did you drug him?"
".....I don’t know what you-“
“Answer me,” Zoro threatens in a cool and collected voice.
“I did. It'll ware off in an hour."
"Okay. Leave, now," Zoro demands in an angry tone.
The black haired female quickly gathers her things and leaves the hut practically crying from how scary Zoro looked and treated her. The green haired swordsman puts her head down and listens as Law tries to speak.
"Babe-baby- Zorrrro~"
"Get some sleep," she firmly states as she helps him to bed.
He half heartedly thanks her and promptly falls asleep right then and there. She knows that she's be too upset about this entire situation right now. It wasn't his fault, but yet again, it is due to the fact that he didn't say anything about them being in a relationship. She wants to talk with him but she knows she can't while he's this out of it like this.
In walks in Bepo.
She lets out a light sob.
"He really didn't want her on him, but when he gets drunk, it doesn't matter if he has a partner, lover....... Roronoa, he does love you, it's just-"
"He makes bad choice? Yeah, I kinda figured that out...." She sarcastically states with a sniffle.
"Ror-"
"I just- need some space right now, Bepo." She half heartedly flashes a smile. Her words staggering out as she speaks them. It hurts to be in the same room with him right now. Maybe she’s the fool for letting him into her life….
She struts passed Bepo but not before giving him a pat on the head with the most broken expression on her face. A tear escapes her eye and she takes her leave out the door and down the path leading back to the capital.
Once she's far enough away from the hut, she lets out a sob that brings her to her knees. She's never liked anyone this much before and this hurts really badly. "Why-" she barely gets out before the flood gates open. Zoro then remembers Bepo’s choice of wording. ‘When he gets this drunk, it doesn’t matter if he has a partner or not’. She begins crying hysterically as she holds onto her sides and taps her head down to the ground below. She knows that she's messing up her make-up, but none of that matter right now. Bepo invades her mind once more. ‘But he loves you’. She lets out a hitched breath before closing her eye.
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.
.
After she stops crying, she stands up and wipes her make-up off the best she can with what's around her. She look like a mess right now, but it's late at night and there isn't many bright lights on. When Zoro enters the building Robin asks and some of the girls ask what happened to her.
"Relationship troubles," she answers in a broken and tired tone. "Sorry I couldn't get back here sooner-"
"Don't worry about it!" one blonde says.
"Yeah. Don't worry about it!" the other blonde says.
"I'm sure you'll get over it," the purple haired girl adds.
“Maybe some sleep will help things feel better,” a blue haired girl suggests.
She huns and Robin takes her to where she sleeps.
Once the door is closed, Robin sits down and pulls Zoro in for a hug. "What did he do to you?" she threatens in a scary voice.
"Wo-wait! Robin, listen before you go all crazy on him." Zoro pulls away to place her hands up in defensive manor.
The archeologist sits back and listens, but she never drops her guard or her scary gaze.
"I went to go see him. I just wanted to talk about what I overheard when we were talking with those men. One of them was planning on helping Kaido with the money he has locked away safe in his home."
"How?" Robin asks.
"He wants to get celestial dragons involved somehow, and if he couldn't, he would hunt them down one by one. Then he would go after the revolutionaries. I don't know why..... I didn't hear the rest....." Zoro says with her head down.
She sniffles and wipes a few more tears away.
"I see......" Robin says softly. "Now!" Her sudden voice startles the green haired swordsman.
"What did Law do to you?"
This side of Robin seems more serious then other ones she's seen.
"His crew mates invited some dancers over, but not like us. A different kind that wanted to party hard...... When I got there, everyone was passed out drunk. I-" She sniffles and takes another deep breath again.
"I found him in the bathtub with lipstick on his face-"
"That cheating-"
"Wait!"
"Waiting."
"The lady wanted to get with him, not him? I- ugh don't know what happened exactly. He was fucking wasted when I got there." She wipes her nose with the back of her hand.
The faint sound of laughter and voices can be heard outside of the room. The other girls were staying up later with each other to talk and whatnot.
"Apparently he told her that he didn't want anything to do with her like that, but he didn't tell her that he is in a relationship. I then talked with Bepo, he was the only one awake it seemed….. He said that ‘when Law gets in a drunken state, it doesn’t matter if he has a partner’-"
"That's why you're upset?" Robin offers.
She nods.
"You have the right to be, I mean, doing what he did was wrong. But like you were mentioning, he was drugged. Listen." Zoro looks up to her with a watery eye. "I can tell he really does like you. I don't think he'd want to ever hurt you like that," the archeologist explains. The green haired swordsman nods and wipes her tears away. Robin pulls her in for one more hug. "Don't let this kill your relationship with him. If it does, I won't hesitate to rip his balls off-"
"You too??" Zoro asks in shock and humility.
They both chuckle.
"Luffy said the exact same thing to Law right before we parted ways back on Zou. I may have been listening to them," she admits.
"Funny. We should probably get to sleep now. Got a big day ahead of us tomorrow." They both get changed out of their clothing and into something lighter. Washing up and brushing their teeth they're finally ready for bed. Robin pulls out an extra futon for Zoro to sleep on. "Goodnight, Robin and thank you for letting me stay with you," Zoro softly mentions.
Robin smiles. Since Zoro's been turned into a female, she's noticed that the green haired swordsman's been a little softer and open with her emotions more. "Goodnight, Zoro~"
Zoro's eye opens wide, she thinks her lips into a thin line.
"Why did you say my name like that?" Zoro asks turning around to see Robin inching closer to her. "No reason~ Law said that your tits were pretty big, so I was just wondering if it was true-"
"No!"
"Yes!"
Robin tackles her to the futon.
"Help!"
Zoro eventually gets Robin off of her. She covers her chest and lays on her side facing away from Robin. She feels violated.
Robin, pleased with her new found discovery, lays back down. They aren't as big as hers, but still~ Robin then quickly falls asleep.
--
The next day comes and goes. It's now night and Zoro's shift is over. She's wandering around with some of the girls from the dancing group. The night is beautiful, but a bit chilly. Seeing all the beautiful lanterns and the wonderful people still wandering around makes the green haired swordsman smile. When they turn a corner, Zoro sees Law. They pass him and he grabs the green haired swordsman's wrist as gently as he can at this moment. "Can we talk?" he asks in a low voice. She turns away from him to tell the females that she's going to catch up with them later.
"Awe~"
"Ok then."
"See you around!"
"Have fun~"
“Be careful!”
She rolls her eye with a soft smile before dropping it and turns back to face him. His eyelids drop a little. "You're eye," he says slowly with shock on his face. Zoro pulls her hand back and gently touches the side of her face. "It was a present from the girls over there. They're actually quite nice...." she trails off to stop herself from talking too much. 'It's not relevant. Stop talking about things like that,' Zoro thinks.
"I'm sorry, Zoro-ya. I-...." his words turn into nothing but an empty breath.
He looks down to his feet for a second before looking back over to his boyfriend- more like girlfriend now. "I hurt you and didn't even know until the next day-"
"Yeah, ya did, and it hurt like something I've never felt before- Is there something else you wanna tell me? Or do you wanna keep stumbling over your words all night?” Zoro asks in an accusing tone.
Law balls his hands into fists behind him. He's digging his nails into the palms of his hands. "I didn't want her to-"
"I know."
"You know?" Law mimics shockingly.
"Bepo told me, but you know what? That wasn't the thing that upset me. What upset me was the fact that you didn't say to that lady about you being in a relationship. Why?"
A light breeze blows passed them, blowing Zoro's lose ends out of her face. Her eye, the right one, is glazed over with tears threatening to spill over.
Law furrows his brow in confusion and hurt. "I didn't say anything?"
"No. You....you didn't." Zoro crosses her arms and turns away from his gaze.
He hums lightly. "I was on some pretty heavy drugs and alcohol that night...... That still doesn't excuse what I did and didn't do or say...."
"..."
"Can I make it up to you in some way, Zoro-ya?"
"You figure it out. What can you do to make things better?" she asks in a soft tone. If she was any louder, they might draw a crowd.
Law smiles lightly. He sticks his hand out to Zoro and mentions, "I wanna show you something."
Zoro's skeptical, but takes his hand anyway.
They walk for a little bit before they reach a lite up area with fairy lights above, it's a cleared out space perfect for dancing.... Zoro looks up to her lover and tilts her head in confusion. Her tears have almost dried, she just looks tired now. Some soft music begins playing and she looks over to where it's coming from. Shachi and Ikkaku are playing the violin and piano. They give her a wink each. She looks back to Law and he brings her hand up to his mouth, he gently kisses her knuckles. He pulls away and gently pulls her out to dance with him.
"Bepo told me everything that happened, and how you had come over to visit, but I was a little-"
"Out of it? Yeah," she chuckles, "you were." Law places both hands on her waist and Zoro places her gentiler hands lazily hanging off his shoulders. She’s now little bit shorter then how tall she was before. Law feels too tall now.
As they slow dance in the moonlight, Law looks down to his lover and feels his heart breaking at the sight of her hurting eye. He never meant to hurt Zoro-ya like he did. It just goes to show how a little bit of alcohol and drugs can mess up and hurt a relationship. Luckily, what happened wasn't as bad as it could've ended up.
"Z-"
"No. Shh..... Just, don't talk. Lets just stay like this for awhile." The green haired swordsman brings her body closer and hugs the man tighter as they continue dancing. He can tell that she's crying, he used to silent cry a lot after Corazon's death.... He hugs her back. It's a tender moment that they both needed, but didn't think to have sooner. It's hard when you're a pirate to have a moment to breathe or relax. So, this, this is really nice.
After the moment passes, Zoro pulls away and pats a few tears away. She still has some make-up on from when one of the girls put some on earlier in the day. She pulls Law's face down to hers and kisses him with every intent to never let him go. Shachi and Ikkaku get the hint and leave their captain to have his moment with his lover.
When they pull apart, Law's got a few tears in his cheeks.
"Don't cry baby," Zoro coos as she wipes his tears away with her thumbs. "Law- I..... I love you," Zoro says with so much meaning behind her words. She's never said those words to anyone before, ever, so this moment right here, is something you'll only see once in a lifetime.
The surgeon freezes.
"Law? You still in there?" she jokes while waving a hand in front of him.
".....Yeah. It's just a little weird."
"Huh? I don't get it?"
"Never mind-"
"No. Tell me." Zoro and her stubborn ass wants to know.
"I just haven't heard those words- in a long time," he half mumbles out trying his best to hold back his tears. He's trying not to remember Corazon too much, but he's failing at it and it's all flooding back like a tsunami. He lets out a low sob and Zoro hugs him again. The green haired swordsman may not know or understand it now, but those three little words mean the world to Law.
She strokes his back.
"Breathe. You'll be okay," she says with a smile in his shoulder. Law remembers those words, he smiles. He says them to Zoro when he's scared and freaking out over something. He smiles down to her with tears in his eyes. "Thank you for loving me, Zoro," he whispers out. Zoro lets out a happy noise.
[Note: omfg.... I didn't realize this until after I reread this; Ace said those exact words to Luffy during the Marinefort arc. Oop- gonna start balling now 😭]
That night, Zoro spends it with her boyfriend. They cuddle in each other's arms as the green haired swordsman slowly drift off to the warmth and heartbeats of her boyfriend. Law brushes a stray hair out of Zoro's face. He kisses her and tiredly smiles down to her. "Goodnight my love."
"I heard that."
Law flushes a deep crimson. He's been caught.
--
Zoro's wandering around again. It's her day off and she's wants to explore a little more. It's now been a full two weeks since she's last seen her captain and other crew mates. This situation kind of reminds her a little bit like they'd separation for two years- but she doesn't want to remember that. It hurts too much to remember. A lot of good came out of that two year wait, but a lot of bad as well… So, now, she looks around. "Where am I?" she wonders, looking all around her. It’s all dried and dead land for miles. There’s some plants, but honestly not much beside her and the dead animal she’s been dragging in a cart behind her.
Suddenly, she hears a faint noise.
"Huh?" she shields her eye from the sun and looks around to see what's making it. A giant animal is charging towards her from a distance away. She hears that noise again, she quickly recognizes it to be a voice and her captain's voice at that. "Luffy!" she happily calls out only to get a face full of him a second after calling his name. He hugs her waist with his legs and tightly wraps his arms around her neck.
Once Luffy gets off, she can finally breath again. Her captain doesn't seem to be fazed by her appearance in the slightest. He fixates his gaze on her meat cart.
"You're really not gonna say anything?" she asks as she hands over a chunk of meat.
"Amck abomf ut?" he asks with a face full of dead animal.
"Hah? Wait until you're finished chewing to answer, idiot." She smacks him upside the head.
"Right! What did you say?"
"I asked you why you weren't fazed by my sudden change....in appearance."
"Zoro is Zoro. I don't care!"
She smiles a sharp toothy grin.
"Cool! Your teeth are sharp again!" her captain says, sticking his grimy fingers near her mouth. She swats his hand away and uses her Haki to hide them again. She guesses that she was so excited about seeing her captain again that she completely forgot to hide her demon features. Oops... Stes been good at keeping them hidden for the two weeks though.
Once back in the capital, Zoro spots Law and strides over to him. "Hiya!" she announces. He looks over a little unhappy- well, more then usual. "What's wrong?"
"You. That's what's wrong. You got yourself caught- and were almost executed! What were you thinking??"
"I was framed. I found out who did it, he's from the redhead's crew. He's apart of the Worst Generation or something-"
Law groans. He grabs the green haired swordsman by the collar and pulls her closer to him. "Is there anything else you wanna tell me?"
"Yes. Luffy's back!" she happily announces with her eyes closed.
His facial expression drops to utter despair. She takes his hand off of her kimono and intertwines there fingers together. "You'll be fine. He hasn't caused too much trouble yet.... I think." She tries her best as reassuring, but it not working as well as she thought it might go. She suddenly notices a marking on his hand, it looks...odd. She pulls his hand closer to her eye and examines it.
He pulls his hand away.
"The fuck happened to your hand?" she accuses.
"Nothing."
"Really?" she accuses.
"...yes."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Fine!" he says with a bit of frustration in his voice. "Stop looking at me that. It's really nothing-"
"Law."
"I was out gathering intel when I was captured........ I could've gotten out in an easier way, but at least I'm still alive." He shrugs and tries to brush everything off. There's just something in the way he's acting that doesn't sit right with her..... 'What happened?'
She knows he's not telling the whole truth, but who is see to pry on the subject any longer? Whatever. "At least you're okay." She pulls him in for a hug.
Sigh
She pulls away and he turns away from her, hiding his hand in his yukata. She pulls him down for a quick kiss on his cheek before hopping off of the cart of food that was brought down to the less wealthy people of Wano. Her and Luffy helped bring it over. Law pulls his hat down over his eyes and face. 'Why do you have to act like this so much, Zoro-ya?? Your teasing is going to kill me,' Law thinks. Yes, he sounds like a child in his head. Am I going to change that? No.
--
Once they all (Straw Hats) meet back up, Zoro explains her situation to everyone who just arrived in the country. Chopper instantly hugs Zoro tightly and Nami joins in. "I missed you guys too," Zoro says with a small smile. Sanji is just staring in confusion at the sight before him. Zoro is now a female and holy mother of fuck- she's hot! Almost like a goddess in a way.
Brook joins in their hug too.
"You look very beautiful swordsman-san." Brook smiles- even though he doesn't have lips. Yohohoho!
Nami and Chopper both agree.
Zoro has on her black kimono with the blossom branches, some getas, her hair done up in a how-the-fuck-did-you-do-that kind of look with some make-up on her face. They also mention something about her new glass eye.
She chuckles.
"Someone I work with gave it to me as a present. I can't remember why though. It was a really nice gesture," she admits. Suddenly, the cook stomps over with his hands to his sides almost like he's trying to put his hands into some nonexistent pockets. "Can we talk?" he asks with a bit of coldness in his tone.
She shrugs and follows him over to the cliff.
"What is it?" she spits out.
"This is all because you ate sushi? That sounds like a load of bullshit to-"
"I don't care what it sounds like to you! That's what happened, ero-cook! Believe it or not. Up. To. You."
"Enough you two!" Nami bops them both on their head's. Zoro rubs her head and glares at the redhead witch. She sure didn't miss this.
"Roronoa, you should try out your new sword," Bepo offers.
All heads turn in her direction. She’s makes an ‘o’ with her mouth. She forgot that she saved Komurasaki and was given a new replacement sword fur the one that was taken from her. She unsheathes her new sword called Emma, and tests it out on a tree up ahead. Kin'emon's suggestion. She does, but accidentally ends up cutting the side of the cliff off. All their shocked gasps stun her for a second before she puts the sword back in its sheath. "Whoops. Maybe that was a bit much," she admits with a hand on the back of her neck.
"A bit??!" Nami shouts.
"That's crazy," the cook mutters to himself.
“Cool!” Luffy and Usopp shout in unison.
The group decides to wait another week before doing anything all the while handing out flyers in secret and gathering more intel.
—
After the week has passed, something unexpected happens, Kaido attacks one of the towns. The large blue dragon sends a fireball straight for the Straw Hat crew. Luffy watches as he thinks his crew is now dead. So, him being him, goes to defeat Kaido himself right then and there. Law tries to stop him, but he fails and Luffy practically flies down the hill and over towards the giant flying blue dragon. Zoro sees this and stops running. After the group didn't die, Zoro took off down the hill to try and tell Luffy that they were okay, but she was too late.
Her captain gets thrown in Udon Prison.
A number of days pass and they're finally out on the blue sea again. They're all ready to fight Kaido and the Beast Pirates. The Straw Hats meet up with the samurai on the open water, Law picks them up on his ship and three captains of the Worst Generation are there. They've formed an alliance, for now. Once trouble hits, all three monster captains destroy the Beast Pirates ships.
Everyone seems to stare on in shock.
Zoro smiles, pleased with both her captain's and boyfriend's end result. Nami and Chopper soon point something out once Luffy gets back. It's someone on the Thousand Sunny.
"Jinbei!" they all shout happily. Some of the group hug him, others stand by and smile; all the while, everyone's happy to see him. He's going to join the crew this time, they're all leaping for joy.
Zoro catches in the corner of her eye that the cook and Luffy are talking about something. She doesn't want to interrupt, so she stays around Jinbei.
The two in the back hug.
Nami notices, but doesn't say anything.
The Beast Pirates and their ships have all been defeated, so far. Luffy is ready to celebrate, but then takes a second to think. Zoro on the other hand is padding around with a large barrel of booze. "Where did you get that?" the cook asks, standing next to Usopp.
"Told ya I could smell it~" she teases, sticking her tongue out at the cook. He mumbles something to himself, but she doesn't want to hear it, so she pads off back to where everyone else it standing.
When Luffy asks Jinbei whether or not he should continue with the fight, he's already made up his mind. They all put their drinks down and head to Onigashima to help the samurai with defeating Kaido and his army.
When they get there, the samurai hide their ships by sinking them. They're not planning on returning without putting up a great fight first or at the very least, dying to protect Wano. It's a suicide mission that they're all willing to risk to get their land and food supply back for. Zoro watches all the samurai pass them and walk up the stairs to the palace, but not before waiting for the pirates to join them.
Kin'emon has a devil fruit that allows him to change anyone's clothing from different objects. This means that he could place a rock on your head and he could change your clothing to something different. In a different case, he could do it on a larger scale, that's exactly what he does to everyone. The groups go through and they're clothing changes to what the Beast Pirates are wearing. Smart disguise by Kin'emon.
This outfit feels a little out there for Zoro. She feels a lot more exposed then when she was wearing a kimono or when she was a man, the yukata.
Sigh
The captain of the Kid pirates, Kid, walks ahead of the Straw Hats and Luffy follows. Zoro, seeing this happen, decides to go after her captain to make sure that he's not gonna cause too much trouble.
Oh no..... While she was wondering around trying to find her captain, she got lost. Zoro tries her luck in gathering more intel, but ends up losing track of that plan due to all the wasted food around. It reminds her of back when she was a man and tied up in a marine base and this little girl, Rika, wanted to feed her. Rika didn't really have too much, her and her family, but they were living at least. They owed a small coffee shop.
Another time, she was given some food by a local, but refused it and told the boy to eat it himself.
The boy smiled and thanked her.
They're all starving in the Flower Capital and here are the Beast pirates, scoffing down as much food as they can and spilling most of it on the floor. It sickens her. She uses Conquerors Haki to knock them out and walk passed to find her captain. "Sick bastards," she mumbles.
Eventually, she finds her captain making a big commotion about something. The green haired swordsman sighs and jumps down of a cut in half building. Who could've done that? 👀 Anyway, A man from the Worst Generation shows up, his name is Apoo and he's an oddball. Zoro cuts through many Beast Pirates before she's cut on the chest from an attack unbeknownst to her at the moment. "Argh!" she shouts out in frustration. She's had enough of this outfit.
Zoro rips it off.
"Much better," she happily announces. Now she's back in her original clothing. More comfortable and easier to move in. They fight their way through and get passed the man with the long arms and piano teeth.
The next little bit is a blur. She remembers running through the halls of the giant palace, fighting and falling onto a floor with many people everywhere. One of Kaido's close men, Queen, a giant talking wire and black striped ball, shows up and begins singing. He wants everyone to play a game and find the antidote to the Oni monsters the man has created. Queen wants to make this a fun game for everyone to play with Apoo being the main target of his sick desires. Queen gave the antidote to Apoo.
Zoro scoffs at the idea, but she wants to save Chopper from becoming one of them. She deeply sighs and decides to play along with Queen's game.
Oh! Luffy has also befriended a man called X-Drake. He's now their ally! Fun..... Not for X-Drake though, he can't seem to catch a break when it comes to making allies or keeping them at the very least.
Sigh
"Roronoa, I'm not you're enemy anymore. We should wor-"
"Don't boss me around. I know what I'm doing."
".....You're going the wrong way..." X-Drake says reluctantly. Zoro feels her face heating up. She whips her head back around to glare at the man. She quickly stomps over to him and looks up. "Just so you know, I'm only doing this for my captain's sake. You're still a marine, or at least you used to be. I can't fully trust you until you've proven yourself." Zoro turns around and begins the chase after Apoo for the antidote.
The ex-marine looks down at the ground for a second before also running after the member of the Worst Generation. He wants to prove himself so he doesn’t get hurt again.
"Geez!" Apoo whines. "Why'd you do this, Queen?? I'm on your side!" the man with long arms shouts in fear as he runs from all the people chasing him.
X-Drake is about to try and stop the man, but feels something is off. It's the first mate of the Straw Hat crew, she has a weird ora to her that the ex-marine can't put a finger on. It seems familiar in a sense, but that doesn't seem right....
As she walks closer to them, she cuts down Ice Onis in her path without any struggle or hesitation. She unsheathes Wado and within a blink of the eye runs past Apoo. The man with long arms breathes a sigh of relief once he knows that he wasn't cut. "Hahah, you're just all talk! Oh boy, you just wanted to scare m-" Apoo is cut off by the sudden realization that he's been hit, he groans out. Zoro grabs the antidote and walks over to Chopper so he can make more of the serum. "Here," she says bending down to hand it over to him. The little reindeer smiles.
X-Drake strolls over and offers a hand to Chopper who happily accepts it.
Marco suddenly shows up and helps keep Chopper warm. He’s been struck by the Ice Oni virus. The Phoenix chucks fire at all the ones who're half turned into Ice Oni, it seems to stop or at the very least slow down the effects. It scares Chopper at first, but it's not hurting him. The fire that is. The little doctor thanks him. Meanwhile, Zoro's has had enough of Queen's actions, so she strikes him from afar using Conquer's Haki. The ground around her seems to indent inwards making a crater in the floor beneath where she stands. Everyone freezes and stares at the green haired swordsman.
"I've had enough of your games! I'm not here for that," she growls.
"Th-th-that was Kingly Ambitions Conquer's Haki!" Queen shouts in fear? No, shock. Marco strolls over to the swordsman and places a gentle hand on her shoulder.
She hums and looks over.
Marco smiles. "You ready?"
She furrows her brow. "Huh?"
He chuckles, "I can take you up to the roof, you know."
She makes an 'o' with her mouth as if to say she understands. She nods and Marco turns into a phenix, picking Zoro up by the shoulders and flying upwards to the hole in the roof, she takes a deep breath. King and Queen try to stop them, but fail.
Marco throws Zoro up and through the hole in the ceiling.
She screams.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Once she can see the sky, she knows she's finally made it up here, but there's an issue. You see, she's very up high and falling to the ground below. Meaning the roof. She screams expecting the worst, but it doesn't happen. She suddenly feels like she stopped moving. Opening her eye, Zoro looks around to see Kid and his first mate as well as her boyfriend. He stopped her from falling from a great height.
He used his devil fruit.
She's let down and kind of falls to her knees. Law snickers. "You Straw Hats sure know how to make an entrance,” Kid admits with the shake of his head. Zoro twitches her nose before standing up. She isn't sure whether that's an insult or- She doesn't even know.... Zoro's just gonna take it as a compliment.
Luffy finally shows up.
Zoro smiles.
The green haired swordsman's captain pads passed both Kaido and Big Mom like it's nothing to bend down to something passed them. It's Kin'emon and the other samurai. Zoro feels a twing of guilt in her heart for not being able to get up here sooner. It doesn't last long....thankfully. She knows that they'll all be able to help restore Wano again once Kaido and the Beast Pirates are gone. They’ll help defend the samurais honer.
Luffy shouts for Law to get Kin'emon and the others out of there before punching Kaido into the ground. Big Mom gasps in shock.
Zoro chuckles and ties her bandanna around her head before unsheathing her swords. "This is gonna be fun," she says evilly. Kid takes his glance elsewhere, the Straw Hats first mate is quite scary..... Kaido launches an attack to the three captains, they don't dodge. Luffy mentions that if they move away from the attack then they'd become a loser, none of them wanted to be a loser, so they didn't move. Zoro and Killer watch in pure confusion at their idiot captain’s. "Idiots," the green haired swordsman mutters. Killer laughs. “Agreed.”
After that whole ordeal, they begin the real fight now.
Notes:
Thanks for reading. The next chapters will definitely contain spoilers for those who haven’t been able to get to the roof top and beyond that scenes. Ye be warned.
Chapter 10: Battle for Life
Summary:
Roof top battle surrounding Zoro and her struggles. The ending is a bit of twist, so watch out for that.
Notes:
Chapter contains: blood, violence, fighting, wounds, Zoro being an idiot, vomiting and a surprise twist at the end.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Kaido and Big Mom use attacks of their own to try and attack the smaller people. The smaller people being Luffy, Zoro, Law, Kid and Killer. They’re not going to hold back nor are they going to underestimate any of them.
Their attacks don't work on the group. Luffy, Law and Kid all kick aside each attack thrown at them.
Big Mom and Kaido use this opportunity to launch a combined attack. They can't dodge that! Zoro steps in front of it and slices the attack in half. She spits up some blood before she staggers around, but doesn't fall. Law grips his sword tighter.
"You with us, Zoro-ya??" Law asks trying to keep his composure. She lifts up a weak thumb before muttering out a "I'm fine" in a low and shaky voice. Luffy nods and turns back around. 'Zoro knows when to tap out,' the straw hat captain thinks as he faces Kaido with a glare that could kill. Luffy launches himself off of the ground and sets out to punch Kaido in his big stupid dragon face.
Kid glances at the surgeon of death giving him a nod before glancing back to glare at Big Mom. He's gonna have some fun.
Luffy's knocked out and laying unconscious on the ground now. Kaido is pleased with his work. While Kaido’s distracted with belittling Luffy, Zoro uses this slight lull in the fight to push Big Mom off of the island. She wasn’t paying too much attention. Kid traps Zeus in a metal box so Big Mom doesn't have any means to get up and back into the fight.
She falls into the water. Zoro takes to chasing the fireball around, cutting it up every time it tries to run. It’s trying to get to Big Mom to help her, but the green haired swordsman isn’t going to let that happen.
"Oi! Pirate Hunter!" Kaido calls out as he pushes off the ground and over to the green haired swordsman. Her eyes widens as he gets closer to her. Her body suddenly feels off and when she blinks, she's in a different location. Law ported her away from Kaido's attack. She sits on the ground and watches as Kaido strikes Law down, he's then thrown in her direction. He did get a solid hit in before he was thrown.
He groans as he falls from a higher up portion of this large rock.
"Law! What the hell were you thinking?? You could've gotten killed!" Zoro shouts over to the surgeon. Law sits up and pants heavily, seemingly out of breath.
"I'd rather the mission fail then have someone die..... have you die...." he mumbles. She holds her tongue and sighs before turning back to look at Kaido.
Sigh
"What I'm about to do.......is going to use up all my strength," Zoro starts. Law turns to look at her with fear in his eyes.
"This might even kill me, but I'm willing to take the risk—“
"What?!" Law shouts, but Zoro doesn't hear him. She uses all the strength she has left to place it into her final attack.
Asura
Zoro uses her demon powers to use a move called Asura on the captain of the Best Pirates, Kaido. She pushes hard off from the ground and glides through the air over to the giant man. She readies herself in the air and strikes Kaido in the chest. Blood goes everywhere and Zoro lands on the ground, kneeling with her back to the enemy. Law's is stunned and shocked at what his partner just did. The green haired swordsman has been hiding something major from her boyfriend and he's now seen for himself what Zoro is and can do. The move and one of her demon forms.
The green haired swordsman stands up and turns to face Kaido with an evil look in her eye. The giant man lets out a deep and powerful laugh. "That'll leave a scar kid, but it'll take more then that to take me down.......... I didn't know you of all people has Kingly Ambitions Haki." He smiles something sinister. This confuses her.
"What? I—I don't understand..... What do you mean?" she asks.
"Very powerful people have the exact same Haki, but it's rare to find if you don't know who to ask," he laughs.
"I just—wanted you to go down at least......" She collapses to the ground and can't seem to move. "I used the last of my strength...... all I had."
The giant beast of a man strikes down at Zoro but he misses. Zoro jumps out of the way just in time, but doesn't see the next attack due to only focusing on the pain in her body. The green haired swordsman ends being thrown back from the force of the second attack. She thinks she hears Law's voice, but she isn't sure. When she opens her eye, the first thing she sees is her boyfriend looking down on her, he's holding her head on his lap as she lays down. She can't move, her body hurts all over....
"So the rumours I heard are true," Law stated in a low voice. He sounds hurt too. Did he try and interfere again? Idiot.....
She weakly nods and keeps a loose grip on her swords in her hands. At least they didn't get lost or blow to bits. Her hardened gaze to him softens it a little, the pain is still unbearable, but at least she's not going to die alone. She doesn't want to completely freak out her boyfriend either by telling him anything, but she knows she has to answer.
"You're a demon," he simply states. Her heart drops into her stomach. She knows she should've told him sooner, but she wasn't sure how he would accept it, accept her. Her breathing picks up a bit, she's trying not to panic.
She takes Wado out from her mouth, forgetting that she still had the sword between her teeth. She also forgets that she has sharp teeth for a second. "I'm sorry..... I—I should've told you soon-" She cuts herself off by coughing up some blood, the furling sound is something that will haunt him. Law strokes her head for a second before just resting his hand on her head. Tears roll down his face as red stains Zoro’s face and neck.
A large blast causes them to shake and almost fall, they're sitting down, but still. Law grips Zoro tighter to his body and she moans out in pain.
"Sorry," he whispers to her before snapping his head up to look at the Strawhat captain.
"I'm taking the others and leaving you here," he states before using his powers to create a large bubble around them to port them all out of there. Luffy nods. "Go!" he says with a smile on his face as he stares down Kaido.
Law turns to face his partner, he notices her face contorting. She's in pain. Zoro takes a second to lift her broken hand off of the stoney ground, the other is around the surgeon's neck. She shakily grips Law's shoulder hard as he moves her slightly to get into a better position to use his devil fruit in. She winces and takes a breath. Zoro bites the inside of her cheek to stop herself from screaming out in pain. As soon as they're both ready, an attack that was deflected by Luffy, goes flying their way. Law's eyes widen right before he quickly grabs Zoro and holds her close to his body. She grunts out in pain right before the attack sends them flying into the air. She lets out a scream of terror as they go flying.
The talking cloud goes with them too. Law used his devil fruit.
The feeling of being shot through the air makes the green haired swordsman feel nauseous. "Wha-" Zoro's words are cut off by the feeling of utter dread taking over. She looks away from the surgeon's chest to see nothing below them. Well, it's just, the ground is very, very far away. Her and Law are now falling down towards the ground. She lets out a gasp before fainting, her head limply falling onto Law's shoulder as her long hair goes everywhere and up at the same time. Heights aren't really Zoro's thing...
She's sudden awoken to the feeling of a hand on her back and a rushing feeling to her head. 'Motion? Why am I moving? Where am I?' she thinks. Hearing the annoying cook's voice lets her know what happened at least a little bit. Sanji caught them from hitting the ground and going splat. He was running by when he heard yelling and then spotted Law and her falling.
[Note: in actuality, when humans fall from a great height, they don't go splat, they bounce while blood going everywhere once they make contact with the ground.]
"Take care of her for me Black-leg! She has about 20-30 broken bones. Put her on her back and secure the bones with a splint. Make sure she doesn't pass out or start seizing and bite her tongue!" Law shouts as he runs off away from Sanji. His voice getting quieter. Zoro hears this, but is unable to respond. Her body somehow feels a bit paralyzed and numb, like she's unable to really even lift a finger. The motion of being carried off somewhere is sudden and makes her want to vomit or pass out again. Her body hurts like sonofabitch. 'Shit, where is this dumbass blonde cook taking me?? Just put me down already!!' the green haired swordsman thinks in frustration.
"Are you kidding??" Sanji shouts. "I'm no doctor and I have no time for this!" Law disappears behind a corner, leaving Sanji and Zoro alone. The green haired swordsman definitely knows Law took off somewhere. He's gone and she's now left alone with some imbecile. This idiot being apart of her crew.... 'Why did it have to be him of all people?' she questions.
The cook lets out a huff and walks over to a safe enough spot to place Zoro's semiconscious body onto a table. He looks around the area, and happens to find bandages in a drawer of a desk. There's not much left of that roll, so he'll have to use it sparingly until he can find more. He sighs and takes them over to where Zoro is laying. All the while the green haired swordsman is listening. She may not be able to move any part of her body, but she can still hear. She hears him rummaging and puttering around while grumbling incomprehensible words to himself. The cook wanders over next to her while he fiddles with something in his hands.
It's annoying. He's annoying.
"You're sure a piece of work, Marimo." Before Sanji starts doing anything, he looks down at Zoro's unconscious body. To his knowledge, she's unconscious, in actuality, she's not. So when he starts bandaging, it's a surprise to know that the green haired swordsman is conscious.
The cook looks down to her. 'Her breathing sounds shallow. That idiot,' he thinks. "Are you—you, just gonna stand...there, cook?" Zoro breathily asks, clearly in an ton of pain, she barely has an eye open towards him.
"You're awake??" Sanji asks in complete shock.
Zoro lets out a low and wheezy hum of agreement before letting out a few gurgling coughs of blood. Sanji suddenly gets a ping of guilt for some reason.
"Hold still. This'll hurt if you move too much. Keep your head to the side," Sanji lazily states before gently lifting Zoro's right arm. She winces and squeezes her eyes shut. The cook breathes out an apology before continuing.
As he starts wrapping Zoro in the bandages, completely ignoring the pain filled grunts of the swordsman, he doesn't understand why he feels bad about helping the green haired idiot. Sanji just wants to get this done before he can cause any further damage to the green haired swordsman's body. The cook sighs and then asks, "Damn it... Who put you in this sorry state anyway?" Sanji's tone is completely serious and Zoro can tell that. She lets a few seconds pass before gathering up enough strength to answer him.
"Kaido and Big Mom," Zoro grunts as Sanji wraps her legs. "It— *cough* it was Kaido's att....ack...combined with Big Mom....." she trails off.
She's starting to feel faint and numb in some places.
"Figures," he starts. "Well, I guess for someone like you to get up there is nothing to sneeze at. Stay awake, okay?" Sanji says, beginning to wrap up her body more. This leaves him with a little more guilt. She's just letting him touch all over her body because she can't move and is in an extreme amount of pain, but that's not gonna stop him from feeling guilty 'bout it.
"How's Luffy doing?" Sanji changes the subject.
Zoro takes another pause, "seems like he figured something out at the last... moment before Law and I were—knocked off the edge." Zoro coughs. She can't stop until she tilts her head up. She breathes a wheezy sigh. Blood is in her throat and in her mouth.
"He's going to win," she rasps out slowly sounding like she's smoked for decades just like the cook is if he continues smoking.
Sanji smiles and blushes a little bit.
"Awe~" Zoro coos.
"What?" Sanji snaps back.
"You're adorable, cook. Fawning over your boyfriend, how cute~," the green haired swordsman teases with her right eye slightly open and a smirk plastered on her face and her tongue sticking out. The cook tightens the bandages too tightly and Zoro lets out a yelp. "Ow!" she says in a louder and strained voice.
"Oops, my bad," Sanji sarcastically states.
Once he's done wrapping the green haired swordsman's body up, Sanji picks Zoro up and runs off to find a useful doctor or at least someone who can look after this green haired oaf.
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"That's Black-leg Sanji!" a male voice shouts. Zoro feels the motion of being carried again. She awoke due to the shouting from someone in wherever she is.
"He's worth a ton!" another calls out. She scrunches up her face for a split second. Yeah, she's worth a lot, but that damn cook had to ruin her fun by mentioning that his bounty is higher then hers, it is, but still. It sends her over the edge cause she knows that that cook is thinking 'My bounty is higher then that Marimo's. Ugh,’ she internally scoffs at the thought.
What Zoro isn't seeing is that Sanji, the one who she thought was gloating is actually scowling at the men who called out to the two. He looks angry for some reason.
"Look! He's caring someone!" Sanji grips Zoro tighter to his shoulder, she winces a little feeling the tightening grip on her leg. "For all we know, that could be the Pirate Hunter; Roronoa Zoro under there!"
"Shut up already!" Sanji snaps back at the two men. His loud outburst causes Zoro's head to feel all funny and dizzy, she slightly flinches at the loud noise. The world feels like it's spinning too quickly.
"Damn it moss for brains! You're always such a pain in my ass!" he shouts, kicking the two guys into orbit. Zoro can feel each movement the cook makes whether it be running or fighting someone off.
The cook huffs and walks away fuming; Zoro still tightly in his grasp.
'Geez Marimo....' Sanji thinks, walking down a now empty corridor. It's filled with debris, unconscious or dead bodies and beautiful blue flowers that're hanging from the ceiling. Sanji glances up at them before gluing his attention back to the task at hand which is getting Zoro to safety so she can be taken care of by someone else and not him.
—
Awhile later.
Sanji finally finds Chopper and some minks from Zou. "Sanji!" Chopper happily shouts, but his happiness soon fades once he sees what Sanji is carrying. Zoro wakes up to the sound of the little reindeer's voice calling out to the cook. The faint blasts and voices can be heard nearby, but it's almost drowned out by the deafening sound of ringing in her ears. She knows for a fact that she definitely has a concussion.
Chopper starts crying assuming it's one of his allies or crew mates. He knows it isn't Luffy.
(Chopper is in his largest form btw. He consumed a rumble ball.)
"Don't cry idiot," Sanji states. "We've seen this happen too many times before, right?" He reminds Chopper as he puts Zoro on the ground. The green haired swordsman holds her breath as she's placed on the solid ground below. She still can't find the strength to open her eye or eyes right now, everything hurts too much. It even hurts just breathing right now....
"This idiot's been hurt badly. I'll leave this lug with you," Sanji says, gently kicking Zoro. The green haired swordsman grunts. "If she recovers. She'll be worth at least 10 fighters." He runs off to fight.
"Don't kick an injured person, Sanji!" Chopper angrily shouts at the cook. Zoro almost snickers at their interaction. 'Serves him right,' she thinks.
"What's this?" Chopper asks, but he soon realizes. "Zoro?!" She almost nods, but can't find the strength to. Just then, a giant dinosaur thing. Enters the rooms and huffs with rage. She hears a roar that's how she assumes it to be a dinosaur. It stomps into wherever she is with very loud and heavy footsteps. It shakes the ground and everything else around. Chopper lets out a noise.
"Leave the Dino to me Chopper," Sanji says, turning back to smile at Chopper.
"So, it's you. Judge's brat!" The giant Dino spits with hate.
'Don't die on us moss-head,' Sanji complains in his head.
The Dino shouts, "you're gonna die too!" at Chopper. The giant lunges at Chopper and the green haired swordsman. "At this point, you look just like tender, juicy venison!" It licks it's lips and charges. Zoro feels her stomach drop and anger starts to boil over. No one talks to Chopper like that! Luffy and that cook did back when they first meet the little reindeer, but that's different.
"Diable Jambe!" Sanji shouts, kicking the Dino, square, on its face. "Rotisserie!" Sanji finishes his move. Zoro wants to vomit, she wishes that her hearing went out with her body.
Sanji runs back to Zoro and picks her up once more. "Watch it!" she snaps, humming a painful groan afterwards. The sudden movements cause her to feel spikes of pain all over her body. It feels like pins and needles jabbing into every inch of her body. Sanji mumbles an apology. By now, Chopper's returned to a smaller form, and is running with Sanji and two others. They're running away from danger so they can patch up Zoro to either heal her up or help her fight again. All the green haired swordsman knows is that she was dropped, the cook faught a dinosaur, she got picked up again and now they're running again.
Some enemies come out of nowhere and start chasing them; shouting rudely at them too. Sanji quickly takes care of them. Zoro feels every movement and shout, she just wants all the motion to stop. 'I really want to sleep right now and just not move for an entire week, but nooooo, that would be a coma Zoro. Whatever Chopper....' she thinks in a haze. Being upside down while being carried on someone's back in a splint isn't the best course of travel.
"Now. Where should I dump you??—Hey!" Sanji's shouting at Zoro, but the green haired swordsman can't hear him because she's snoring away.
Sanji heavily sighs in frustration. He's had enough of today already....
"Sangoro-dono!" A voice calls out to him. Sanji hums and looks around for the owner. "Oh! It's you Kappa! Glad to see you're okay! That's a relief... I was just running over to check on Momonosuke."
"Kin'emon just went after him. He'll be safe," Kappa says with a smile. A raspy voice then chimes in.
"If you wanna make yourself useful, cook. You should head to a live floor." Zoro weakly suggests before promptly fainting again.
'That bastard!!' Sanji angrily thinks. "Don't make suggestions and them doze off you lazy piece of shit!" Sanji shouts as he runs off. Even though the green haired swordsman looks like a female now, Sanji still hasn't fully acted how he would normally act around other females to her. Maybe it's because they continue to get themselves into brainless arguments with each other. Zoro is still Zoro after all.
Sigh
"Long time no see!" The Dino shouts to Sanji.
"Shit!" The Dino strikes Sanji and he drops Zoro. The green haired swordsman wakes up at the sudden jolt of pain going throughout her body. It hurts and she wants to yell at that damn cook again. The Dino laughs, "you are all fired up earlier! So, I thought I'd play a little more!" Sanji clutches his right arm and stands in place huffing from the blow he just took. Zoro gets to see a glimpse of the fighting from the corner of her eye, but then they're now too far away for her to see anything. The cook quickly comes back after a quick exchange with their enemy. He picks up the green haired swordsman again and takes off running for the three millionth time that hour.
After getting to a safer area. Sanji finally notices Chopper and his tiny helpless form, he gets a worrying feeling in his stomach. "I can't help but worry when you look like that!" he shouts back. Holding his arm from an injury he obtained from fighting the giant dinosaur.
"It'll be okay Sanji!" Chopper reassured him.
"You Betcha! Just keep you eyes on the prize," a female nurse from Zou adds, talking to the doctor from Zou. She looks around and down at something on the ground. "Hmm?" she hums, sitting on her feet holding something. "I had no clue you had this sort of remedy of Zou."
Zoro hears this exchange nearby. 'What does Chopper have on? What're they talking about?' she thinks. The ringing in her ears keep her from hearing everything.
Chopper chimes in, putting the thing she held in her hands, on. It's a helmet of sorts he took from somewhere. He smiles in his armour and says, "it's a super recovery drug, right?" He changes the subject and turns to the male doctor.
"I can't administer it by myself." He completed ignored the nurse. She's dumbfounded, but that's just Chopper. He wants to try and help everyone and everything in this weird works they live in. After all, he wants to become the world's best doctor who can cure any disease.
"Right! Oh—uh, I think we should warn her. Talking this can cause double the amount of pain after it wares off," the goat doctor says. Zoro almost cuts him off with anticipation. She doesn't like being tied up and held down like this. She wants freedom to move around on her own, but she knows deep down that she can't do that. The injures littering the inside and outside of her body are too much to deal with in their own right now. Thankfully, she has allies and their ship's doctor, Chopper, with her.
"There's no time to worry about that! Just—just give it to me already!" She starts coughing. She doesn't care about the consequences right now, all she wants to do is help fight and protect her captain and crew mates.
"Did you not hear a word I just said??" the goat shouts questioning her hearing. Zoro slightly shakes her head and then speaks, "I don't care what happens to my body after this..." she trails off a bit. "It won't even matter if I can't fight now!" She's made up her mind. She'll take the drug and deal with the side effects after the fighting is over and done with. A risky move, yes, but it's all for her captain. She needs to help fight.
Plus, she can't let that blonde bimbo have all the fun. No, she won't let that happen.
"Ahhhh!" an enemy yells. Zoro flinches even though it's far away from her and the others. "It's Queen's hybrid form! Get back!!" a guy shouts before running off somewhere the green haired swordsman can't see.
"That knowledge won't help you though!" Queen shouts or what Zoro assumes is the guy Queen. She heard his voice before, but everything, including voices and breaking of things are all getting jumbled together. Sanji's had enough of this bastard. "Chopper! How're you holding up over there?" he shouts back.
'Ew, go away! No one asked you to care!—Oh wait.... I said that in my head,' Zoro thinks. She internally face palms for not saying that out loud. For some odd reason, she just can't help but feel a little sorry for that cook who's fighting out there maybe on his own. That Queen balloon guy sure is ripping into the blonde, huh? The feeling won't go away. Maybe it's guilt? Or sympathy? 'Ew, no.'
Sanji doesn't have time to hear Chopper's response because Queen is attacking him. He jumps up into the air and charges his leg. "Collier." He gets right above Queen's head. "Strike!" Sanji's foot lands a heavy blow on top of the giant Dino's head.
"Judges son! You bastard!!" he shouts, glaring daggers at Sanji. "Quit saying that name!!" Sanji feels his emotions taking over as his hatred builds up. He stops moving for a second to take a drag of his cigarette.
Queen stops to and just...waits.
"Ready now?" Queen asks, not really caring, but he wants to fight.
"Yep," Sanji adds back.
'He sounds angry, but not intimidating at all. Damn cook, ya never learn, huh?' she retorts in her head. She wants him to prevail, but he's sucking at it. The only time she actually has faith in the guy..... Never again.
"Take this!" A beam of light shoots from Queen's hand. Sanji dodges it. "Hah, a constant barrage of beams... Now, that sounds like something Franky would love to get his dirty like mits on," Sanji says, huffing.
"Shut up, cook! Ya sound like an idiot!" Zoro fires her annoyance at him.
"Wha—Stay out of this ya idiot Marimo!" Sanji shouts back at her.
"Don't take you eyes off of a fight, boy!" Queen shouts.
Meanwhile with Zoro's group...
"There are so many layers of bandages!" the goat doctor shouts in frustration as he takes them off in layer. Maybe Sanji found more bandages then what Zoro was hearing before. Who knows.
"Take them off before you give me that damn shot!" Zoro pipes in, just to remind them as she gets increasingly more impatient by the second.
The goat man sighs, "oh, well. Let's not get hung up on that detail yet."
Zoro gets a sinking feeling. "Hey! Are you sure you know what you're doing??" she asks, shouting. Her heart is racing a mile a second. Maybe getting that booster shot is a bad idiot...
A loud booming voice echos throughout the floor; interrupting everyone. It shakes the ground and walls.
"Listen up you traitorous scum!" Queen shouts. It's that giant Dino ball again. Great...
Sanji gets a sinking feeling and backs up, hiding behind a pile of rumble with an ally. He needs to catch his breath for a moment before continuing his battle with Queen.
"You're all gonna pay!" Another giant of a man shouts. "For turning your backs on the Beast Pirates!" All the enemies to the Straw Hats, start screaming and scrambling to reach an exit. This large man is covered head to toe in leather with giant black wings. The two giants start attacking the men as they try and run away.
"They're looking for Zorojuro," an ally tells Sanji. The cook nods. He understands now.
He looks over and says, "who can stop them now?! If this keeps up. They'll exterminate this entire floor!" Sanji looks around for Chopper and Zoro. 'Fuck! Why am I so worried over that oaf!' Sanji mentally yells at himself. Why is he so worried for Zoro? Is it because he thinks that this girly Zoro isn't capable so fighting? No. Is it because she's wrapped in bandages with numerous broken bones? Not really. Then what? Could it be that he's actually caring for the green haired swordsman and seeing her as a person now? Ew, no. He'll never admit it, neither will Zoro, but both of them care for one another in a friendly way. Nothing romantic at all. They both have partners.
The cook and the ally run over to where Chopper and Zoro are. They need to either come up with a better plan or move somewhere else.
"Chopper! Miyag!" Sanji calls out to them with heart eyes. The female mink stares at him in annoyance.
"If that 'treatment' isn't working if the Moss-head. Just get her out of here!!" he shouts. "It'll be for the best if you can't—“
"We've already given her the shot," Chopper speaks up, interrupting the blonde cook.
"But it's taking longer then expected to kick in..." Chopper mentions softly. He isn't sure how well Zoro's body will react to this different type of drug.
"It's because her body's in such a bad shape..." The goat doctor explains looking up to Sanji. The blonde cook nods and looks up to make sure nothing bad is coming their way.
Sanji heart drops into his stomach. 'Had the marimo gotten that badly injured?' he thinks. It's a little worrying, but he's seen the green haired swordsman in a worse state, right? ThrillerBark wasn't nice to her, Wano isn't being very nice to her right now either. So, what's gonna happen to the green haired swordsman now?
"Hang in there Zoro," Chopper says, bending over his face. Sanji turns attention back to the group on the ground.
Sanji gets a better look at her face now. She's suffering, greatly. Her face says it all. Whatever her body is going through right now must be pretty bad for the marimo not to even have an eye open right now. A single tear escape her eye.
"Where's that Judge's brat gone to now?!" Queen spits. Sanji can feel his blood boiling again. He stumps out his cigarette and turns tail on his foot and runs at the giant ball of dinosaur.
"Right here!" he shouts, kicking him in the face again. "Come get me!!"
"That idiot needs to learn to shut the hell up," Zoro mumbles.
The other giant jumps back avoiding Sanji's kicks. "Find Roronoa Zoro and finish her off!!" the man shouts. "They're trying some new healing technique! Don't let her recover! Understood?!" Queen instructs.
"Dumb beasts. I can clearly see what they're planning! Now..let's see where you are Vinsmoke Sanji... Ah." The Big Mom Pirate licks his lips and laughs. "If you married Pudding like you were supposed to. We wouldn't had to join forces with those damn monsters!" He laughs, aiming his bow at Sanji's head.
"That's him!" Another Big Mom Pirate shouts.
"Die you Germa reject!!—" Before the Pirate can shoot. He gets hit with a heavy blow and crumbles to the ground by Catviper.
"Neow! Let's take this outside!!" He kicks him once more. "I'm here to avenge Pedro!" The Big Mom Pirate is in for it now~
"Perospero..." Catviper hisses and charges at the feeing fiend. "You're not gonna get away that easily!" They go off in a different direction then where Sanji and the others are running. The cook didn't notice the sniper, but was unable to react to it because he was in the middle of fighting with the Dino ball called Queen. 'Thank you Catviper,' Sanji thinks.
"There he is!!" An enemy shouts, pointing at the giant bandaged cross being carried away.
"Protect Zorojuro! She was injured in a fight for the cause!" an ally shouts, taking charge. His heroic moment doesn't last long. "It—it's K—King!!" He almost faints from fear.
"Leave us alone!! Please..." Chopper pleads as he starts crying out of frustration. "Dammit!!" Sanji yells as he charges towards the giant beast of a man. "You're always such a pain in the ass, Marimo!"
'Oh! He's talking about Zoro...' Chopper sighs calming himself from the hysteria that would've occurred.
Sanji leaps off of his foot as he jumps into the air, trying connect his foot with King. It doesn't work and Sanji's sent flying back into a pile of rubble. King's about to attack when he hears a learing voice.
"I used to hear rumours," he starts. "About a curtain fire conjuring race that lived atop the Red Line. King of flames, right?" He laughs.
"Marco..." King grumbles.
"You're still breathing!" Queen shouts in disbelief. "You Whitebeard Pirates should've excepted death by now!!" He shoots a laser beam in the Blue Phoenix's direction. It proves useless when Marco dodges that attack with ease.
He chuckles, "ahhh," he sighs. "I give. This is more then enough for me." He jokes. "I've done my part." Marco smiles wildly. He's happy to be back in action, and to help the Straw Hat Pirates who're helping the samurai of Wano. Chopper's eyes go wide with shock when all of Zoro's bandages come undone all of a sudden. He gasps in amazement. "No time for laying around, now is it?" she states before running off to join the fight.
"Now! It's time for the stars to take their places," Marco says as he fixes his glasses. He smirks knowing what's about to happen.
"Wait—" Queen shouts. King steps back, he squints his eyes.
"Three sword style—"
"Diable Jambe—"
"Shit—" King and Queen say out in unison.
"—Purgatory!" Zoro slashes at King.
"—Mutton!" Sanji kicks Queen.
Both monsters have been set free now. What will become of the two giants?
"The Straw Hats are amazing!!" shouts an ally from the crowd.
"Oi." Sanji turns his head. "If we win this—" Zoro starts.
"I know," Sanji interrupts. "It'll finally be within sights." He smiles. "Luffy will become Pirate King."
"And who knows, cook, you just might become his Pirate Queen—" Zoro says in a cutesy voice, she's teasing the blonde.
"Knock it off!" the cook shouts in embarrassment as he swats at the green haired swordsman for teasing him.
They both stand up straight waiting for their next attack.
"Zorojuro is back in the game!" shouts an ally. She smirks hearing her name. She sways from side to side a little bit, but doesn't fall. The pain feels like a numb dream right now. It's still in the back of her mind though, but gone for the time being. She'll be able to fight now.
"Go get'em Sangoro-san!" shouts another ally. He smirks too. 'Don't over do it moss-head,' Sanji thinks with a glance in her direction.
"It really healed her!!" Chopper happily shouts from the Mink's hands. She smiles as well. They're all happy that the steroid drug is working on the green haired swordsman's.
"Wait!" the goat interrupts Chopper's excitement. "I'm afraid we have to think about what'll happen afterwards." Chopper frowns and sighs.
"You're right......"
As Marco tries to regain his momentum back, he sits back and watches the fight happen. He's interested in seeing the green haired swordsman is action. 'I thought Mary Geoise was the only one above the Red Line? I'm mainly talking about the distant past.... Back when God's land was up there...' He let's put a soft chuckle. 'When did you start believing in such things as that Pops?' he Thinks.
"Marco!" A voice snaps him back to reality. It's Izo. He's carrying him to safety. "How can you seriously space out on a battlefield?? You oaf!" he shouts, making a pouting face. Marco chuckles. "Well, I knew you'd have my back." He smiles. "Oh—shut it you fool!!" Izo shouts back blushing a bit. Marco loves teasing the samurai because he always gets a cute reaction out of him.
"Say, Izo?" he starts. "Do you believe in God?" Marco asks.
"No! You're starting to sound like Pops when he was drunk!" Izo shouts back as the two run off to take cover.
'Be safe Straw Hats. At least you don't have to take care of this handsome fool,' Izo thinks, smiling.
Queen laughs, "If you wanna take us down. You're gonna have to put more effort in!! That didn't even hurt!" Queen holds back a wince. "Our unstoppable toughness is what makes us All-Stars!!" Queen shoots a laser beam in Sanji's direction, he manages to dodge it, but groans out. Zoro notices.
"What's wrong?" Zoro calls out, looking at the the cook.
"Nothing. It's just..."
'So it is something,' Zoro thinks, knowing she's right.
"....Ever since I put on the raid suit for the second time. I've been feeling kinda—off..." Sanji trails off a bit.
"You're not going to slow me down are you?" Zoro asks, looking to her left; over at the cook.
"No!" Sanji spits back. "I said it's nothing!" If Zoro wasn't near him, he would've have heard what the cook said next. "...My body just feels a little odd..."
Zoro snorts, "Well, you do have weird eyebrows."
Sanji snaps his head over to the moss-head. "My body! Not my face you buffoon!!" he shouts getting all flustered, noting paying an attention to the giant sword coming down on him.
Sanji gasps. Zoro just saved him, by jumping and stopping the blade from King.
"You owe me later!" Zoro shouts getting her footing and staring down the giant Queen.
'Yeah, yeah. What—' Sanji's thoughts interrupted.
"Bridal Claw!!" Queen shouts, striking Sanji in his torso. Zoro gets a worrying feeling, she's not seen the cook this distracted during a fight in a long time. Normally, if the cook is distracted while fighting it's because of ladies or Nami. She looks over to see the cook being launched across this battle field. Her eye goes wide, but can't let him be a distraction. 'He'll be fine. Chopper and Minks are there if he needs them,' she thinks.
"I remember now!" Queen laughs, "All of Judge's brats are enhanced! That bastard's crazy!!!! That burning leg of yours is quite some kind of augmentation right??" Queen asks to himself.
Sanji brushes himself off and stands up, heating up his leg in the process.
"I hate to break it to you," he starts. "But unlike my siblings. I'm a regular human being."
"Huh??!!" Queen asks too exaggerated. "Are you stupid?! What kind of human can burst into flames?? It's not like you're a Lunarian!"
Sanji jumps into the air and shouts, "It's possible because my passions burns hotter then any real flame ever could!" he shouts, all the while knowing Zoro can hear everything he's saying. "Cooking sea beasts is my specialty you giant Dino freak!!" Sanji kicks Queen again. Harder this time.
Zoro slashes at King's armour. "Oi," she shouts. "Don't get distracted on me now! This is a fight after all!" Zoro smiles wickedly at the giant winged man. King looks down and his eyes go wide. 'That blade!' he thinks, recognizing the previous welder, Oden. King strikes Zoro down with a heavy blow to her torso. The green haired swordsman stands up straight and tilts her head to the side, the attack didn't hit her so she's smiling at the challenge. "Oh," Zoro starts in a teasing voice, "I get it now. You're just bloodthirsty." She smiles and chuckles.
"I've never really understood someone who can stick to their traditional forms and techniques in a real battle," King says in a low and accusing tone.
Zoro readies herself. "Yeah, I guess you're right. You never claimed to be a swordsman if I remember correctly either, right?"
King smirks.
"Just remember, when it comes down to it, I might just be willing to bite through your throat if it comes down to it. I can't afford to lose here!" Zoro shouts up to him with that smile of hers. She will do it and don't think she won't. She does have pretty sharp teeth in her demon form after all.
"Hmm? Boss Hyogoro!" The old man turns around to face Kappa.
"When Hydori-Sama offered that man—woman now." Gesturing to Zoro. "Enma, there's a reason why I didn't protest so hard on giving it away," Kappa says.
"Hmm. I see it too now." Hyogoro pauses. "She may be a Pirate, but she reminds me so much of Ushimaru-Sama in his younger years." Kappa stands next to him as they look out to the battlefield.
"He was a fantastic swordsman. A direct descendant from the God of the blade, Shimotsuki Ryuma." Hyogoro says, taking a small step.
"Maybe it's fate or something? She did return the sword Shusui back to Wano. After all........she is a one eyed samurai," Kappa says joining the fight once again with a smirk on his lips.
As Zoro and Sanji fight, they feel something off. The floor behind dumbing and everything starts shaking. Zoro stays upright, but the blonde cook falls on his ass. Just then—their captain suddenly comes through the floor on the back of a giant pink dragon.
"Luffy...." Zoro mumbles before getting struck at. She growls and snaps her head back to her fight. King continues to strike at her and she either dodges or strikes back. This leads them to break through the wall behind the giant man in leather. Zoro fallows after him. She's on the hunt now.
Sanji's now left alone to fight Queen again. He isn't feeling too hot right now, but he can manage. 'Whatever the hell Luffy is doing better be working,' he thinks.
Chopper cheers from the side lines when a sword shatters once it makes contact with Sanji's head. Sanji is suddenly picked up by Queen and crushed in his giant fist. "Ugh!" the blonde cries out. When he's put down Chopper gets creeped out.
"That's creepy, Sanji! You're body...." the reindeer trails off looking at all the broken bones. Sanji sets all his broken bones back into place. Every crack makes everyone around who can hear it cringe in fear and disgust.
Meanwhile with Zoro and King.
Zoro's being tossed through a wall like a rag doll. She flies across the next room, only to be caught by Franky who asks her if she's alright and needs help.
"No, I'm good," Zoro denies him and Franky backs off to only watch now. The cyborg will always be amazed with the swordsman's fighting.
King comes flying through a wall the green haired swordsman kicked him through and goes for the killing strike, but Zoro stops him in the air; breaking half of his helmet. It's an amazing move.
"Wow...." Franky mutters to himself.
"Ugh—shit. Damn!" Zoro calls out, looking at her work.
He gets angry at the tiny swordsman and sends Zoro flying through yet another wall. "Ugh—" she grunts. The attack makes a huge blast that directs them back outside.
"You should use your own techniques, but a swordsman never does in battle, do they?" King admits. Zoro agrees and smirks devilishly.
"I could say the same about you, you know. Don't be a hypocrite now," the green haired swordsman reminds while panting and smiling again. This fight is fun.
The two battle outside now, both taking great hits to the other. Franky watches from the hole Kingmade in the side of the building. Chopper finds his way over too.
Zoro uses the Kingly ambitions Conquer's Haki to use on her blades. She's getting to now this new found power better and better now. She takes a breath before speaking out to King. "I will—become the king of hell," she says in a low and demonic voice before leaning down on one knee and pushing herself off from the ground and into the air towards the giant man in leather. King's exposed eye widens as he takes a long and hard blow to his chest that sends blood spraying everywhere. King takes a deep breath before he stumbles around. He turns around to see the green haired swordsman on the ground.
Zoro stands up and quickly turns around to look King in the eyes. Her eye now glow purple, her teeth are now sharp and her nails have gotten longer and sharper. She looks like something you'd find in hell. King rips off his broken helmet and tosses it aside and oop—he's kinda hot. Zoro shakes her head from side to side to rid the thought from her head. King smiles down to her and readies himself to attack. The man in leather uses some kind of fire style to summon this giant Kaido dragon.
"Wow, impressive," Zoro retorts. It is, it's just—she just doesn't have time to appreciate it right now because that move, if she's not careful, will kill or hurt her. The green haired swordsman also readies herself for the attack.
The giant fire Kaido is dragon form comes barreling towards her at an immense speed. The technique that she stole from Kin'emon, the same one where you can cut fire and the same one she used previously to cut up that fire thing beside Big Mom, she uses to defeat the fire beast in half. Franky and Chopper both watch in amazement at her technique to take down the fire creature, but they're also scared. Scared for her and kinda creeped out by her. She looks like a demon and is fighting at impeccable speeds. It's almost like she's possessed or something..... *wink* *wink*
King respects her now. That attack was meant to kill her and she fought it off with almost too much ease. "You're strong, Roronoa Zoro...... I'm impressed, you've come a long way." He smiles. She look on in confusion, she lowers her swords to her side to watch him for any hints that he might attack again, but it doesn't look like it. "You've defeated me. I accept defeat, Roronoa. If it's by your hand, it doesn't bother me."
Zoro takes Wado out of her mouth. "You're giving up?" she asks, still in her demon form.
He nods, "yes, for now. You know," he starts after he straightens up. "You look just like your mother."
The man in leather stretches before jumping into the air and flying off, away from the green haired swordsman.
Zoro is left stunned. "My—mother?...." she mumbles out before getting hit with all the pain at once. It's like sea train hitting her with everything she's got. Her fingers loosen on the grip on her swords and they sudden drop to the ground. Her body is starting to feel all spiky with pain again, this time feels much worse though. She feels her airway tightening with every breath she tries taking. "Ow—" she sobs out before dropping to her knees painfully.
*THUD*
It hurts to move. "Shit!—fuck.... Ugh..." she groan out, moving her feet from under her to in front of her.
Before she passes out from all the pain, she sees a large entity resembling death itself in front of her.
"Wha—wait! I can't move my body.... Who are you? Wait—stop!" she cries out as it reaches towards her with a boney hand, it has long boney fingers. The pointer reaches out and touches her forehead. Everything goes black and she suddenly feels nothing anymore.
—
After the green haired swordsman's fight was won, her unconscious body picked up by Chopper and Franky. "Please tell me you're still kicking, Zoro!" Franky states aloud. It's like she can hear their voices, but they're so far away.... Ringing is all she can hear and blackness is all she can see.... Is she finally kicking the bucket?
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When Zoro opens her eye, she sees nothing at first, it takes a few blinks to fully see what's around her. She gets up and looks down from where she's now standing and notices her body. It's now up back inside the building where she was pushed through the wall by King before their battle on the ground—before he surrendered. Anyway—Franky is placing her body down and Chopper and pushing his tiny hooves on her chest. The idiot blonde cook comes running in looking a little worse for wear. He drops to his knees next to her body and his mouth moves, but she can't hear what they're saying. It's all so faint and very far away.
A sudden drop of her heart makes her feel something—something is definitely off.
She watches as her body quickly sits up and vomits up a lot of blood before her eye rolls back and her body drops to the floor again, convulsing this time. It's a seizure.
Her body soon calms down, but it takes awhile.
Chopper is crying and the cook has his finger on her body's neck. He's checking for a pulse. He takes over what the small reindeer was doing earlier, pressing down on her body's chest over and over and over....
Zoro looks around the place, veering her attention to something that catches her interest. She walks away from the group on the floor and over to the hole they just pulled her from. Down below is glowing red and orange. It doesn't look like how it did before. The ground isn't grey and covered in rumble like how it was when she fought King, it's opening up and something is looking up to her from the giant fire hole below with glowing purple eyes. When the fire and smoke clear, she finally sees this woman—or what she thinks is a woman dressed in black, purple and red just standing there. She smiles with sharp and pointed teeth just like hers. This lady also has purple glowing eyes just like hers when she's in her demon form.
They both stare at each other for what feels like forever until one of them speaks.
"This isn't your time, child," the lady-demon-looking-person says in a distorted voice. Zoro blinks and sees the lady right in front of her. She's floating and is staring her down a bit. This lady is quite tall..... Zoro can see her features a bit better now. She looks quite young—maybe thirty years old if that, she has long red shiny hair, beautiful eyelashes, a pale complexion, makeup on and is kinda boney with a long flowy dress on. But all and all, this lady is downright stunning. The green haired swordsman can't take her eyes off of her. The lady reaches out a finger and touches her forehead.
Everything goes black again....
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When she wakes up, she wakes up with a gasp as she quickly sits up. "Ugh!" she shouts out in pain before falling back down and taking a few slower breaths. Her body feels quite sore, but at least she's not in as much pain as she was before. Someone next to her speaks.
"You're awake," a male voice states. She opens her eyes to see nothing, it's all black..... She chooses not to say anything just yet, the same thing did happen back at ThrillerBark after all....
"Need help up?" he offers. It's the cook.
Zoro weakly blinks and half smiles and scoffs, but reaches out to take his hand anyway. Her stomach hurts, she hasn't eaten in many days, she can just tell.
When she fully sits up again, slowly this time, she lets out a forced breath that makes her hunch over in pain. She closes her eye again as she grips the cook's hand harder then before. When she lets go, she half heartedly apologizes for squeezing his hand so hard before opening her eye again.
"It's fine..... You know," he starts, but doesn't get to finish what he was saying before someone enters the room. She can feel their presence.
The person walks over to her and sits down next to her where the cook would've been. The blonde idiot must've left to sit next to Luffy in the other side of her. The person, now sitting next to her, takes her hand into theirs. The hand is big and rough, so.....not a female unless it's Yamato. "Glad to see you're awake, Zoro-ya," the voice softly mentions. It's Law. She smiles. She feels where he is while staring in his direction before she leans on him. The surgeon gently wraps his arms around her, the embrace is warm and comforting. It still hurts to move, but she needs to be close to him right now. She's kinda scared of what's happening to her. Last time when she lost her vision at ThrillerBark, it came back within being awake and having her eyes open for at least ten minutes. It was scary, but Chopper told her that it's normal when first waking up from a coma.
It doesn't calm her nerves though.
"You were out for a week—"
"Yes! Finally—In your face Chopper! I can sleep for a week without it being considered a 'coma'." She tries hiding the fact that she's freaking out with humour.
Everyone in the room sighs and some laugh, including Luffy and Yamato's can be heard.
Luffy snorts. She can tell that he's smiling and awake now. That's good. "Zoro's funny," he says with what she assumes is a big bright smile. The green haired swordsman smiles back as she looks down, she's happy to hear that he's woken up too.
"Why're you crying, Zoro?" Luffy's asks in a serious tone. The green haired swordsman didn't even realize that she was crying until her captain pointed it out. She slowly lifts herself away from Law, his hands are gentle as they leave her body. But they don't leave from holding her hand.
She takes a shakily and unstable breath before gently reaching up to touch her face.
"Zoro?...." She thinks it's Nami's voice.
"I—uh..... I—I can't see," she stutters out.
"What?"
"I don't understand, your eyes are open."
"Zoro, your eyes are open." She can hear Luffy's voice above all. She instantly turns to face him. "What? What did you just say?" she asks in an accusing tone.
"You're eyes, they're both open," he repeats. She turns back to face her legs as a few tears fall down to the blanket over them. "That can't be....." she mumbles.
"What did you say, Marimo? Speak up," the cook says off to her left.
"I said 'that can't be'. I haven't been able to open my left eye in—forever—"
She's interrupted by someone.
"You had them open when we first saw you after defeating Big Mom," a female voice reminds. It's Robin.
She takes a breath.
"It's not easy to keep open when you don't even have an eye there in the first place. What you guys saw was a fake eye.... I....." she trails off for a second. "It was broken when I was trying to defend that village. Shattered like glass...." She sorrows at the memory.
"Can you really not see at all?" a male voice asks. It's Kin'emon.
She shakes her head.
"Zoro-ya." It's Law, he's holding her face in his hands. "Can you look at me for a second? I wanna try something," he mentions, removing his hands from her face. She turns to look at him and waits. She sees something other then darkness, but it's very faint and she almost mistakes it for nothing until she hears his voice again.
"Can you see anything?" he asks, snapping her out of her thoughts.
She shrugs. "Um," she starts softly. "There was something, a dot—its small. I think.... But otherwise, nothing. It's just all—....dark...." Zoro mutters with her head drooping down. Hands touch her face away, wiping the tears on her face away before she feels lips on hers.
When they pull away, she slightly squints her eye, the one that had an eye still left in it, the one socket doesn't. It's just—empty. Must be creepy for everyone around her....
"What does this mean?" she asks as the hands pull away.
Silence fills the room.
"Talk to me! And don't dare leave out a detail." She raises her voice.
"This means....you're blind. If you could see more then a dot then there would've been a possibility of saving your eye, but you said that you could only see a small dot...." Law answers.
"So," Zoro prompts, she's not facing him anymore.
"I'm sorry, Zoro-ya."
This is when her world collapses around her. The adventures she shared with them all, she'll never be able to see again, her dream completely shattered now.... She needs to be able to see, her observation Haki isn't the best in the crew..... She thinks of herself as a liability now. Blind! She can't see anything! She was bad about navigating the ship when she could see, think about now.....even worse.
She takes a deep breath and feels faint.
"Can I eat something? If it's true that I've been out for a week—" She gets cut off.
"Comh egth ithm eeee!" someone calls out. It's Luffy. She hears someone bop him on the head for talking with a mouth full of food. It's probably the cook. She gets food and eats until she collapses on the futon.
She takes a deep breath before feeling a hand on her arm. It startles her, she flinches a little and the hand moves away.
"Sorry." It's Law. "Would you like to take a walk with me?" he asks in a soft voice. She sits up and winces slightly. "Yeah—I don't wanna be stuck in here anymore," she says with a smile. The surgeon helps her up, she almost falls back down if it wasn't Law holding her up.
"You got it?"
She hums in agreement. She shakily takes a step and almost has her knees buckle under her. This is almost like learning to walk again. It's a little embarrassing to say the least, but at least Law is with her.
"This is a lot harder then I thought walking would be," she chuckles out as she death grips her boyfriend's arm.
They walk slowly until Zoro's foot stubs on something and she almost falls forwards. "I've got you." And she believes him.
They walk onto the grass and she smiles.
A soft breeze blows in and makes her hair blow backwards. She takes a deep breath before they start walking again. "Why'd you wanna take a walk? Is there something I should be concerned about?" Zoro jokes.
"No, nothing to worry about. Just—thought a walk would help after laying down for sitting long...."
The green haired swordsman hums. "That's a part of it....."
"What?"
"There's another reason, isn't there?" she asks. She wishes she knew where they were walking to, it kinda feels like they're waking on a path now. The air is also a bit cooler, so maybe under some trees?
She hears Law take a breath before speaking. "I was doing some reading and found a way to get your sight back—"
"Really? How??"
He goes silent for a second.
"Law~" she calls out in a sing-song voice.
"Um.... Well, the only way for you ti gain your vision back is to trade eyes with someone. This means, the other person has to give up their vision and before blind themselves in order for you to see..." Zoro grips his arm a bit harder then before, she shakes her head knowingly. "No one would do that willingly."
"You never know—"
"I swear to everything out there, Law. If you're thinking of giving me your sight—imma smack you upside the head so hard—your brain will come out your nose!" Zoro threatens.
The green haired swordsman hears the surgeon clear his throat.
"Um—I uh, wasn't really planning on it—"
"Good," she says in a sweet voice.
"Zoro-ya."
"Yeah?" They stop walking.
"Someone has offered to give you their eyes—"
She scoffs.
"It's true.... They're not going to live much longer and it was their idea. I only mentioned this to everyone while you were eating with Mugiwara."
"Who is it? Who's dying?" she asks with much concern in her voice.
"He's um.... He's a samurai that fought with you on the battlefield."
Her mind races. Who is it? There was a ton of samurai fighting with her to save Wano—Oh! They saved Wano! Right?
"That's nice and all, but are you sure they're willing?"
"Ask them if you aren't sure," Law reassures. They continue their walk and soon come back to the building they were staying at. When they get back, Zoro feels off and stops walking. She makes a face and groans. "Wha—" Law is cut off by Luffy launching himself at the two, knocking them to the ground.
"Mugiwara!" Law gets up to shout at the Straw Hat captain.
Zoro sits up too. Luffy is hugging her. "Did he tell you?? What's they're answer?!" Luffy asks, shouting at her. "I mean.... I could get used to this—being blind I mean, but I would then become a liability if I was to continue staying on the ship—"
"You're not a liability, Zoro." Luffy hugs tighter.
"Let me finish," she grumbles. "However, if I did accept the offer.... I just don't wanna take whoever offered's sight away if they aren't willing enough. Being blind is a burden and a liability."
When they finally convince Zoro to go through with getting new eyes, they take her to meet the samurai. The two of them talk and Zoro is ready for the procedure. Law and his crew help the green haired swordsman and the samurai get ready.
"Ready?" Law asks.
Zoro nods. "As I'll ever be....."
—
A few hours later, she wakes up and sees darkness again. She starts to panic. A large soft hand on her head stops her from flipping out or getting up.
"Stay still, Roronoa." It's the bear! She hums and stays still. "I'm just going to help you sit up, okay?" Bepo says as he places one hand on the back of her head. She grabs onto his fuzzy arm and slowly sits up.
"Stay still, this'll just take a moment," he says. She feels something on her face over her eyes coming off her face. She closes her eyes and waits patiently as Bepo or whoever else is in the room takes off what she assumes are bandages.
When they're off her eyes, she's told to open them.
Her eyelids slowly flutter open. It takes a few seconds to adjust but—she can see again! She smiles and lets out a huff of air before remembering the samurai. Her smile drops and she look around the room, he's in the corner next to the window. She gets up with the help of Bepo and Penguin and steps over to him. She sits down next to him.
"You can see again?" he asks with a smile on his face.
"Yes," she breath out. She takes his left hand into both of hers.
"Don't feel sad, Roronoa, I wanted to do this for you. This was the least I could do for you or anyone of your crew or captain... You helped save my country and I will be forever grateful. Thank you for helping us," he thanks her. She bites her lip and nods even though he can't see her.
"Thank you for everything you've done for me and many others. I hope you live the rest of your days in peace," she thanks him and wishes him well before letting go of his hand and walking to the door. She takes one last look at the man before leaving the room and heading up the stairs behind Shachi, Bepo behind her.
They exit the Polar Tang and Zoro spots Usopp talking with Law on the beach. They look over to the ship and see her waving to them. They head over.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! I’m sorry for not posting sooner, I’ve been back in school for the last 2 weeks so things have been pretty chaotic. I will try get the next chapter out sooner rather then later, but no promises, I have a busy schedule coming up soon.
Chapter 11: Egghead!
Summary:
Get to meet Zoro's mother who's situation is more then complicated and the Egghead which is the newest arc! If you haven't read anything of the new arc yet, ⚠️ there's spoilers ahead! ⚠️
Surprise at the end? I'm not sure what to do with it yet, but I'll think of something.
Notes:
Hello everyone. Sorry, I fell off the face of the earth for months.... I just needed more material (chapters) to work with. Now that I had enough chapters to work with, here's a new chapter! Sorry in advance, but I'm not sure when the next one will be coming out. It will though. I'll make sure of it. I'm not done with the story yet.
Enjoy!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Both Usopp and Law come over to the Polar Tang.
"Can you see again??" Usopp asks in exasperation as he leans closer to Zoro.
She nods.
"Yep, I can see both of you," Zoro says with a small smile.
"Look at me. Can you see the light?"
"Yeah."
"Follow it now," Law commands. She does. The surgeon does a few more things before he determines the success of the procedure. The three of them head back into the Capital to meet up with everyone. There's a problem with that, though..... everyone is kinda—scattered around. The three of them search until they meet up with this lady blocking their path. She accidentally bumps into the green haired swordsman, and Zoro turns on her heel really annoyed.
"Need somethin'?" Zoro asks with a glare in her eyes and a flare to her tone. Usopp tells her to be nice, but he's too scared to really do anything.
"I'm sorry about earlier," the lady apologizes and bows her head. They all look confused now.
"What are you apologizing for?" Usopp asks.
The lady lifts her head. She has amber colored eyes with faint freckles and brown hair. "The night I met you, Roronoa. I was told to sabotage your chances at beating Kaido and his crew. I was the one who slipped something into the sushi you ordered—"
"It was you?!" Zoro goes to attack the lady, but both men hold her back. The lady jumps back in fear. Zoro's strong and almost takes them down with her, but thankfully, she's still recovering from her injuries. So, she isn't at full strength.
"But—you—it didn't even slow you down...."
"Why did you do it?" Law asks, loosening his grip on the green haired swordsman's arm. Mistake! She goes in for it again, and he is forced into holding her back again. He's now holding her in an arm lock from behind. Usopp has completely stepped away.
".....If I didn't, the Beast Pirates were going to slaughter my family and husband. I'm really sorry, Roronoa. I really didn't mean you any harm..."
"Well—....." Zoro lets out a long sigh as she takes her arms back from Law's grip. "Change me back, and I'll call it even." She extends her hand out to the lady for a deal handshake. The lady accepts the offer, and she gives her the antidote. Zoro doesn't wait. She takes the small cork out and down the entire thing. It's a tiny vile, so there's not much in there to begin with, but still.
"How do we know she wasn't lying?" Usopp asks very unsure. Zoro hands the vile and cork back to the lady and shutters. She walks away, and Usopp looks at the green haired swordsman.
"She wasn't. I saw her face back at the stand. Bla—that's gross," she stutters out. Zoro then starts feeling faint, so Law and Usopp help her sit down on the grass against a tree. She passes out soon after.
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When Zoro opens her eyes, she's no longer a she anymore! The swordsman lets out a hum. The weird lady is gone, and he has his old body back. Thankfully, he's wearing his old green coat, baggy black pants, boots and the hamaraki, if he was wearing anything else, his clothes would've been torn to rags and it would've been quite awkward.
Law and Usopp help him up, and he wobbles a little bit before getting his footing.
"Glad to have you back," Usopp says with a smile. Zoro's not used to having both eyes again. It's going to take some more adjusting to do. As if losing an eye back then was difficult enough....
The three of them head back into the capital and search for the Straw Hats and the Heart Pirates.
"Where could they've gone to?" Usopp asks, looking around.
Law shrugs. "I don't have the slightest—duck!" he shouts before dropping to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Zoro knows what he means, but it's too late for the two Straw Hats. Something knocks the both of them over. Zoro loses the air in his lungs for a second before patting his captain on the back.
"Yay! Zoro's back!" Luffy shouts while sitting on top of him and hugging tightly. The green haired swordsman can feel the world spinning. Usopp smacks his captain off of the swordsman and tells him to be more careful. "Luffy. You can't just throw yourself at people like this. You could've hit someone else!"
"Sorry, sorry," the captain apologizes with a smile as Usopp smacks the back of his head. Law helps Zoro up once more with a firm grip. Their faces meet close in the middle, and they stare into each other's eyes for a moment before it's all ruined by a blonde calling out to them.
"There you—you're back," the cook states as he walks through the crowd of people and over to them. Zoro guesses that he was following Luffy until the rubber man took off like usual.
The green haired swordsman nods and rolls his eyes.
"You can see again?" the cook asks, stopping in front of Zoro and waving a hand in front of his open eyes.
"Yes dumbass—" The green haired swordsman swats the waving hand on front of him away on a huff of annoyance.
"Idiot Marimo!"
"You're the idiot here! You're also more blind than I was!" Zoro shouts and instantly covers his mouth.
"What?" Sanji scoffs, taking a drag of his cigarette.
"Nothing! It's nothing—just got caught up in the moment." The green haired swordsman turns around and walks away. Law chuckles and follows Zoro. Sanji just watches in annoyance as the two swordsmen walk away.
When the green haired swordsman stops walking, he looks around and begins to panic. He then feels a hand on his head from behind, which makes him jump a little. He kinda zoned out and just started walking after that little dispute.
"Zoro-ya, there's something I want to ask you," Law asks, tilting the green haired swordsman's head back. Zoro then looks him in the eyes and smiles. Law lets go of his head and grabs Zoro's hand before dragging him away from the loud groups of people crowing the streets. The surgeon takes Zoro to a path that leads to a bridge under a canopy of pink blossoms trees with petals fluttering down and landing in their hair as they walk.
When they stop walking, Law lets go of his hand and turns to face him.
"What? Trying to get in my pants or something, Law?~, " the green haired swordsman teases with a soft smile. Law smiles back and looks to the trees for a second before looking back at Zoro. "Um......" he hums with a hand behind his back while the other one holds his sword. "After I helped patch you up, you mumbled something in your sleep that unsettled me a little...." At these words, Zoro feels his heart drop. Did he say something embarrassing? "You were talking about this lady with red hair. Apparently, she crawled out of a flaming hole in the ground and tried to drag you in? I'm not sure if I understood you, right...." he trails off. "What I'm trying to say is..... I saw the lady you described right after I left your side...... I was standing on the ship's deck when I saw her. She was just staring at the ship from the tree line...... There's something off about her that doesn't sit right with me."
"Not like a normal person?" Zoro asks. Law shrugs. "I can't describe it in words." He trails off a bit.
Zoro can tell it freaked him out a little bit. His body language speaks louder than words. He reaches out a hand and caresses Law's face with his thumb. The surgeon looks him in the eyes again, easing some tension in his body.
"King....."
"What?"
"King, he said that I looked just like my mother, but that doesn't make any sense. The lady I saw in my dream didn't have green hair, yet she claimed to be my mom. She had red hair and didn't have grey eyes. They were purple. I don't think she was--I--I'm probably just overthinking things. For all it could've been was a demon just trying to trick me and lure me to my death." The green haired swordsman grips the sides of his head. "I just don't—understand!" Zoro combs his fingers through his hair, tugging on it slightly. Law gently takes Zoro's hands on his own and gets his fingers to release the locks of hair. He then holds Zoro's hands on his own to try and comfort him in some way.
"Breathe," he whispers before kissing Zoro on the top of his head. Zoro feels his face heating up when he realizes what's happening. That feeling of overwhelming instantly goes away when the man in front of him is close. An uneasy feeling creeps up on both of them in an instant. Something is behind Zoro, and Law can see it. His grip tightens on his hands defensively. Zoro tugs them away and turns on his heels to face whatever is standing behind him. Zoro feels his blood run cold in his veins, and his face pales as his hands begin slightly shaking in fear. The lady with the red hair and purple eyes is standing before them with a smile just a couple feet away. Her head is slightly tilted downwards, making her eyes seem darker than they actually are, and the smile on her face is utterly terrifying.
Zoro can't find it in himself to make a sound or even really move. People don't usually get this kind of reaction out of him.
The redhead giggles slightly before standing up straighter, "No need to be frightened, Zoro. I'm not going to harm you or your friend here," she smoothly states with a different acent and slight tilt of her head to the side. Her calmness is uneasy to the situation at hand, especially the way she smiles at them. She's different...... He's never seen or heard anyone like her before.
"Who are you?" Law asks with stillness in his voice. He stands up straight behind Zoro, glaring down the mysterious lady like a predator staring down another predator.
She hums, "Do you remember who I am?" she asks in a soft and unsure sounding voice staring at the green haired swordsman. There's no malice behind her words like both of them thought. The question throws both of them off, especially Zoro.
"What?" the green haired swordsman mumbles. The lady drops her smile to something sadder as she nods slightly.
"Hmm..... Zoro, do you know who I am?" she restates the question with a hopeful tone.
Zoro doesn't lower his guard, but he does stand up straighter. He lets a second pass before answering. "No."
The lady's head slightly twitches for a split second before she looks up to meet his eyes. She lets a soft smile pierce her lips this time instead of the one she had before. "I really shouldn't be so surprised. I didn't leave you anything to remember me by...." Her voice cracks a little, and Zoro can hear the sadness in her tone.
"You gonna tell us who you are now? You know my name. However, I don't know yours," Zoro asks. The redhead nods and smiles brighter now. That smile is kinda....creepy.
She bows slightly while looking up at the two. "Terra. Roronoa Terra." She straightens up and puts both hands behind her. Zoro feels his heart beating faster and his breath hitch. "Wha...." The word echos out of his mouth. He can't seem to bring himself to speak. "Are you lying?" Law suddenly speaks up, startling them both. The redhead shakes her head. "No. I'm not. I didn't have a last name before your father. I was abandoned at birth, so I was taken in by a group of bandits. That's
when—"
"Stop," Zoro says suddenly.
Law turns to look at Zoro for a second. The green haired swordsman looks like he's in some type of shock. His eyes are wide and filled with anger. When the surgeon blinks, the lady is gone from the spot she was standing. She now stands right in front of Zoro, unmoving and unblinking with no large smile on her face. Her long red hair flows in the wind as if she was underwater in a way. It's very fluid, yet it looks wet. When the green haired swordsman registers, thatshe's right there. He jumps back and pulls out Wado. Law pulls out his sword too, he points it at the lady and holds a menacing stare. Terra looks over to Law and smiles, not something bad or evil. Something out of curiosity. "You care about him?" she asks. This question throws the surgeon off a little. He frowns but nods.
"You will do anything for him?"
Law takes a breath and lowers his sword. She isn't a threat, or at least she isn't showing that she is, Terra just seems curious.
"Yes."
Zoro looks over to him, lowering his katana just a little.
"You like him."
This isn't a question. This is an accusation. Law nods. Terra hums in a pleasing matter and turns on her heel to face Zoro with her hands still behind her. "I'm sorry, Zoro. I know, I've missed too much in your life, and there's no making that up.... I just couldn't let your life end so soon. You have so much to live for—I've been listening!" She suddenly gets all giddy. "Your dream, to become the world's greatest swordsman, I heard you. The first time you mentioned it, that is....." she pauses. "Mihawk is a really strong appointment," she chuckles. She then drops her smile again. "Anyway, I digress. All I wanted to say is that I'm here for when you need my—"
"Where were you then?" Zoro softly mumbles.
"What?"
"Where were you then?? When I was growing up! Where were you?! You weren't there...." the green haired swordsman accuses in a tone filled with emotion and eyes filled with tears.
Law feels like he should leave, but he stays. He slowly walks over to stand behind his boyfriend to place a gentle hand on his shoulder.
Zoro feels tense under his hand, kind of like he could pounce on her at any second. Terra, on the other hand, seems calm, but there's something there that tells Law he really shouldn't interfere or else something might happen.
"Every single day—I—I—I didn't know if I was abandoned or what! I lived on that godforsakened hellhole for twelve years—"
Terra made a noise like she wanted to intervene.
"Twelve years," Zoro lowers his voice to something dangerous. "I spent alone, overthinking everything, hating myself because I thought I wasn't good enough and isolating myself because I didn't know how to do anything for myself. I. Wasn't. Taught. And when I was, when I finally opened up—to—to someone who—I thought could help me—I—I was taken—I....." he couldn't finish the sentence, but the other two knew exactly what he was trying to say. "I wanted to end it all until I met a girl who helped me. Who was actually there."
Law's heard a little bit of this story before.
"Her name was Kuina, Shizumoki Kuina. She introduced me to her father's dojo. A year later, she died because—you know what?? People are fragile, people break, you—you broke me almost completely. You weren't there, neither was whoever the fuck my father was. You both didn't exist in my life and now—now you just decided to show up out of the blue and—and what? What do you want?" Zoro shouts and then drags his hands down his face. Tears dampen his cheeks.
Law wants to hug Zoro, but he knows he shouldn't. That wouldn't end well. He's too tense right now. Last time he even attempted to touch Zoro in this state, he was thrown to the ground.
"Can I explain why I left you on that island?" Terra softly asks. Zoro steps back for a second before quickly trying to calm himself down. He waves her off, but she continues anyway. "A little more than eighteen years ago, Kaido decided to make the county of Wano his territory. That meant taking over completely... So, he did. He started a war with his crew and the people of Wano. You were only three years and two months at the time, I was so scared.... Your father, he...." she takes a slight pause. She stares off like she was reliving it again. "He—he joined the war to protect everyone, protect us. The war lasted a total of two weeks before Kaido had fully taken over. The last of the Shizumoki clan was still escaping, your grandparents. They sadly didn't make it far. That's when your father came back to us. He....he was badly injured."
She looks down to the ground. Her long red wispy hair covering her face, but Law can see her tears.
"A friend of your father's, Monkey D Dragon, helped you and I escape to the docks before Kaido got to you. I passed you off to him and ran back to help your father. He died in my arms....... He never stopped thinking of your safety and well-being. He loved you, I love you so so much, baby," she pauses again. She looks up with tears in her eyes. Zoro's eyes widen. "I was kicked out and woke up on Dragon's ship. I fell ill and died shortly after..... I never made it to the East Blue with you." She shakes her head. "Kaido was after what our clan possesses. It something in our blood that he needs for some kind weapon—"
"What weapon?" Law interrupts. Zoro turns his head backwards slightly to look up at his boyfriend with shaky vision. Terra clears her throat before looking around. "There's an ancient weapon in Wano. To activate it, you'd need local blood. Not just any local blood if you know what I mean," she half mumbles. "There's three types of ancient weapons," she says. "Pluton, Uranus, and Poseidon. It was lost in the city below when the country fell to that damn pirate captain," she growls. "I heard through a grapevine that someone in Holyland Marie Jois has Uranus. I could be wrong though, it was just a rumor."
Law gives her a questioning look.
"Anyway, since Kaido couldn't find the ancient weapon here. He began slaughtering many innocents. That didn't help anyone maybe besides himself..."
"How're you here then if you died on Dragon's ship?" Zoro softly asks like he's in shock.
"At the time, I didn't know I was the daughter of a demon. How could I have? I was abandoned at birth. I just thought that my parents died when I was younger in a battle. Well, that's what the bandits told me. In hindsight, I shouldn't have believed them so easily," she chuckles lightly out of embarrassment. "Well, it kinda turned out that they were right. The leader of the bandits told me that he was good friends with my parents. They did die in a battle, but now they would call the God Valley Battle. Back then, it was called something else I honestly can't remember. All of that data was erased due to the five elders wishes." Law nods and takes his hand off of Zoro's shoulder to cross them below his chest.
"When I woke up, it was in this dark place with no sounds and black water were everywhere. It was cold and the world seemed to go on for an eternity. I walked until I finally seen something that wasn't just emptiness, it scared me. Death greeted me and showed me all the memories I forgot I had." She looks up to the sky. "My hair turned red after I fought to get my wish. Death grants you one wish when you die. If you want to be reincarnated or live as you were."
"Earn a second life?" Law wonders. Terra nods. "There was this large battle and the victor would earn that one wish. I won in the end. He then showed me who I really was. It was a huge surprise when I found out that I had powers. Not normal ones either... I also got to see who my parents really were."
"I don't understand. Are you saying that you were..." Zoro trails off not really believing anything or just finding it hard to. Law has to agree, he can't really believe what he's hearing. Does hell really exist?
"I was transported to hell."
Both guys stand in shock.
"Time works differently there then it does here. You could spend a day in hell and in reality, it would be like a year. I lost track of time, that was until I heard your voice. You wished to be the King of Hell.... I had to intervene. I had to stop you."
"I don't understand."
"It's a long complex thing to explain, but in short. If you did become the King of Hell or you used your powers like I did, you might've gone to Hell with me. I can now transport in and out of Hell, but it drains me greatly," she explains. She then lets out a half hearted chuckles. "It took me too long to figure out how to get back," she admits. Zoro and Law both face palm internally.
She smiles softly and steps back a little. "It's sure wonderful to be back though..."
"I don't get it. Are you...alive again?" Zoro asks wanting to get a straight answer. She nods. "Yes and I'm here to stay in this world even though I'm not exactly human anymore—well, quarter human."
Zoro only stares, he can't believe it.
"Zoro-ya."
The green haired swordsman turns to face his boyfriend. "There's a few things I have to do here before leaving. I'll leave you two to do some bonding or whatever you feel like," Law says with a small smile. Zoro nods and the surgeon pecks him in the head before leaving. Zoro watches him leave. Terra stands next to her son and smiles wildly.
"So~" she calls out in a teasing voice. "Is he your boyfriend?" Zoro's face glows red with embarrassment. He tries swatting her away, but she moves too fluidly.
"And what would you say if I said he is?" Zoro asks in an angry voice, stopping his movements. He has a little bit of doubt from the lady with long red flowy hair. "I would say congratulations. You two seem cute together~ From what I can tell from our short encounter," she admits before laughing. The green haired swordsman blushes.
—
Law goes into the capital and finds Robin. The old man with the long red nose mask show them a secret tunnel leading down to see the old city of Wano. It's been like this for about 800 years. They discuss about the history next.
—
Zoro wanders the capital with his mom, they talk about his father.
"What was he like?" Zoro asks weaving through a group. She walks next to him, her hair now down and not flowing. She lets a large smile pierce her lips. "He was a," she cuts he self off by chuckling. "Well, when we first met. He wasn't the brightest young man out there. He told me that he was a traveler, gathering new resources for his country to bring back. I was immediately interested in him."
"Why?" Zoro asks dumbfounded. She gives him a look and he looks away. "Well, he was different then the others I met. He didn't back down when I stole everything from him and left him tied to a tree in his underwear." She laughs and Zoro goes wide eyed. 'She's a bit scary,' he thinks. "He kept coming back though and everytime I would manage to lose him in a crowd of people of just in the woods. He would not stop following me around, until I asked him out it one day. He told me that he just thought I was pretty," Terra admits with a smile and a slight tint to her cheeks. "I still wouldn't give in. So, he guy more creative. Sneaking me flowers, little sweets, or money. I never knew anyone that would drop everything just to be with me." She pauses to think as they turn a corner and walk down another row of shops.
"It was on the last day he was there that I realized I couldn't be without him. I packed a few things into a bag and ran down to the port. His ship was about to take off when I saw him pulling up a rope. I called out and he seemed surprised to see me. This got the attention of all the crew. They hoisted me up and I kissed him." She nudges the green haired swordsman. Zoro just looks away. "I stayed with them until I got to Wano. That's where I stayed with your father and his family. We got married and well, you were conceived," she says and Zoro feels a little hot. He doesn't really want to know about this. "Nine months later, you were born. Not the healthiest baby, but you were still breathing. I couldn't really teach you to cook because I never had time for it. Your father is the one who had you help with some dinners. It always ended in a mess," she chuckles staring off like she's remembering the events unfold right in front of her. "I was the one who taught you had to hold a sword. Granted, you were only two, but it's never too early to start."
"We're you good at sword fighting?" Zoro asks. She nods happily. "Really amazing. Probably not as amazing as you are right now." Zoro blushes at the complement. Terra smiles wider.
"You've grown so much since the last time I seen you..." she admits with tears in her eyes. They stop walking and Zoro turns to face her. "Yeah," he says lowly. "How old are you now? Early twenties I'm guessing." He nods. "Twenty-one," he responds and she begins crying. Zoro panics and doesn't know what to do. "What—" Terra hugs him tightly and sobs into his chest. "I missed out on your life so much," she sobs. The green haired swordsman's heart hurts all of a sudden, he now feels bad for yelling at her earlier. He hugs her back, but softly at first. "Come on." She lifts her head. "Hug me like you missed me," she says with a sad smile and tears in her eyes. Zoro hugs her tighter and feels his own eyes watering. He didn't know how much he needed this. He berries his face in her shoulder and she lets out a soft chuckle.
When they pull away they have a little laugh out everything and continue on their walk.
"I wanna show you were we used to live. Granted, it's probably not there anymore."
"Sure," Zoro admits. They walk for awhile and Zoro tells her about what he's been through before the crew and with the crew. This brings a warm genuine smile to Zoro's mouth as he recounts the adventures he's had good and bad. When they're here, Terra stops and stares at the home in the distance. It's warn down, but doesn't look too bad. It's surrounded by trees in all directions with a large field of overgrown grass surrounding the house. They walk inside and Terra drags her fingers down a cracked doorframe slowly. Zoro just looks around careful of the holes in the floor. "He grew up here. I only lived here for about three, maybe four years. It was his family home, passed down from generation to generation," she says before exiting the house and walking over to a cemetery. Zoro grimaces, but follows. They stand in front of this grave and Terra begins tearing up.
Roronoa Arashi
"So, this was my dad?" Zoro asks lowly. Terra sniffles and nods. "Yes, he was a very brave man in the end and would've loved to see you grow up into the man you are today. I bet he's watching down on us, on you saying that he's proud of you because I know he is. He's very proud, and so am I," she says in a shaky voice. Zoro nods feeling his heart squeeze painfully in his chest. She holds his hand for comfort.
Walking back to the capital, Zoro sees some of his crew wandering around. Terra understands, it's time to go. She turns to her son and gives him a big hug. "I love you baby. If you ever need me, I'll find you. We're connected more then you think." The green haired swordsman isn't sure what she means by that, but he trusts her by giving her a tight hug back. "Goodbye...." Zoro makes a noise like he wants to say something else, but his mouth can't form the word. Terra understands, it'll be a while before she hears the word 'mom' come from him. After all, they just met today after years of being a part. She watches as Zoro walks away from her and into the crowds of people. "Goodbye my son."
—
Momo, Kin'emon and Yamato come to say goodbyes to the crew and especially Luffy. Momo cries and Luffy gives him his Jolly Roger. He says that if anyone messes with Wano, they'll have them to deal with. Zoro really likes that idea. Having Wano under their protection.
The Kid Pirates, Heart Pirates and Straw Hats all pick a direction and separate. Instead of going down the safer way, all three captains direct their ships off the edge where they climbed up from. Everyone screams and holds on for dear life. Zoro watches as the beach and his mom quickly disappear from sight. His heart feels unsure of what to make of her, so he guesses that maybe that's something for future him to figure out.
—
On the open sea, they get their new bounties!!!!!
Luffy is an emperor now with a bounty of three billion. All three captains have a bounty of three billion now.
Chopper's bounty: 1,000
Nami's bounty: 366,000,000
Brook bounty: 383,000,000
Franky's bounty: 394,000,000
Usopp's bounty: 500,000,000
Robin's bounty: 930,000,000
Sanji's bounty: 1,032,000,000
Jimbe's bounty: 1,100,000,000
Zoro's bounty: 1,111,000,000
When Zoro gets his new bounty, he's grinning from ear to ear because his bounty is much higher then the cook's. The two bicker about it until they hear shouting. He turns his head to see what all the yelling is about, it's Nami still yelling at Luffy who's being punished for ordering them down the drop off. The ginger then turns to face the green haired swordsman. "Oi, Zoro." He turns to face her and so do some others. "Who was that you were with in the capital after the war? She had red hair," Nami asks. All heads now face his direction. "Were you following us?" he asks. As lifts an eye brow. "Are you two...." She lets the implication marinate in the air for a few seconds. "No. Look," he sighs. "Long story short, that's my—" he cuts himself off because he's never had to say this before. "Mom. I haven't seen her since I was three...." He lowers his head before kinda zoning out a little. Nami drops the topic after seeing his reaction. She shouldn't dig in a wound that maybe hasn't healed yet.
Robin picks up a newspaper that the bird dropped and reads out all the things that've been going on since they've been in Wano. Buggy has teamed up with Hawkeyes and Crocodile, Sabo freed Kuma and killed Vivi's dad, Vivi has gone missing, and the warlord system has been abolished. Luffy says it's a mistake to let Buggy lead, but Robin just laughs him off. "What? I'm right! He's a fool!" This makes everyone key out a chuckle.
Zoro brings up a point of worrying about Vivi. "She'll be fine. She knows how to take care of herself no matter what situation she's in." Sanji, Chopper, Luffy and Nami boo him away. "Marimo, green Kaido, green mom!" Chopper isn't so creative with name calling. Luffy doesn't believe Sabo killed anyone! He's right, but he doesn't know that.
Law intercepts a transmission, he hears Sabo's voice saying that he didn't kill Cobra, it was Marijoa who did it. "The empty throne in Pangaea castle was supposed to by empty forever because there's no king of this world! Actually has—" A new voice takes over in a distorted voice. "You did not detect anything, you did not intercept anything. The kingdom of Lulusia never in the first place, Trafalgar D. Water Law—" That's when Law slams the receiver down on the snail and falls back out of his seat breathing harshly. What just happened?
Luffy lays back and eventually agrees to let the Vivi situation thing go. He tells then everyone his dream. Everyone is flabbergasted. Nami thinks it just like him. While everyone smiles, Nami panics. She stumbles up the stairs and to the deck. "Luffy!" She shouts with shakiness in her voice. Everyone turns to look at her.
"What is it, Nami?" Zoro asks.
"We've got a big problem... Law just called and me and well...."
—
Days later, Going Sunny and The Polar Tang meet up. Zoro and Luffy seem happy, but no one else is really too thrilled at the moment because there's a huge storm hitting them. A large tsunami hits the two ships separating them. Snow and ice litter the sky and ship. Luffy shouts out and points to something in the air connecting with the sea. It's a large ball, Nami calls it a large Warm Eddy. It's a warm mass that's being pushed up from the sea. Brook makes a joke, he thinks it looks like his hair. Luffy and Usopp chuckle before Usopp shouts out in fear as a large wave crashes into the side of the ship.
Robin points out that it looks like someone is inside the small. "Where?" Zoro shouts. "There!" She points and he nods. The green haired swordsman then cuts it open and Sanji calls him crazy. "Crazy fucker!" Chopper then goes flying with a large gust of wind that whooshes in and Usopp catches him, holding him tight to his body. Chopper holds onto the sniper tightly too.
A girl with pink hair pops out and onto their deck. It's Jewelry Bonney. A big gust of wind blows Luffy, Chopper, Bonny and Jimbei away. Usopp was knocked off his feet and let go of the small reindeer. The rest of them get picked up by a giant robot who flies their ship onto the island. It's the enemy or is it? This girl with short fluffy hair claims that she's Vega Punk and Franky freaks out. What's going to happen now? Zoro, Sanji, Robin, Nami and Franky all go onto the island from their ship which in now on dry land.
"My name is Lilith. I'm a Vega Punk," she explains. They then follow Lilith and she explains that they made the ground feel like clouds. "You'll need to change into research suits before you enter the lab!" she says with a wide grin. Everyone gets changed. Sanji and Franky both pick a tropical outfits while Nami, Robin, and Zoro pick future outfits. It feels a little snug, but not bad. Zoro feels a little weird in the outfit though...
They then followed her onto a set of moving stairs that lead up into this room. "Wow! This is so cool!" Nami says with wide eyes. There's a large white door at the top and down this hallway, it's blocking their path, but they somehow pass right through it on account of Lilith saying something to someone on her watch thing. On the other side, Lilith disappears and everyone freaks out. They see a small girl with white hair, dark skin and black wings who's holding a sword. Zoro freezes, his blood runs cold. She's sitting in front of a large tank with bold black writing SERAPHIM 04. Above that there's a number 098. Zoro takes a mental note. Sanji and Nami call out to the kid, she doesn't answer at first. Something sets her off and she wakes up getting into a fighting stance with her sword pointing at the group.
The girl attacks Zoro first, he blocks her attack but ends up getting knocked on his ass. Nami turns her head to watch in disbelief. The girl goes after Nami next, Sanji blocks the attack but gets pushed into Franky knocking them both over. Robin goes in and holds the girl with her arms using her devil fruit. That doesn't work, her arms get cut up. The girl goes after Zoro again, he blocks her attack as they hold their swords close. She's really trying, so is he. Zoro lets his strength falter, she cuts his left eye. He holds his eye as he looks up at her. She has her sword to his head. The green haired swordsman lets out a shaky breath before his wings come out and pushes off from the ground to attack her. He doesn't hear anyone calling out to him until it's too late—
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
He falls...
Zoro is on his knees panting from fighting her. The girl is staying still now and he can't seem to get up, his boots are bound to the room's floor. 'Shit! Put it away—put it away!! Dammit.... There's no point in hiding it now...' he thinks. His wings are out as well as everything that makes him a demon yet no one has said anything yet.
"Seraphim, that's enough!" a deep male voice calls out. A man walks out of a doorway off to their left and he walks over to the group. They all can't move for some reason. "You must be the Straw Hat Pirates. I'm Dr. Vegapunk, Shaka." He introduces himself. Sanji starts winging out. "What the hell did you do to our shoes?! Why can't I move?? Let me out if these!" The green haired swordsman sighs and puts his wings and everything away. The man then proceeds to explain that he has the information from Robin's home island that was destroyed twenty-two years ago. She tears up and the cook yells at the man. They're happy tears though.
Shaka then explains how where they are right now is considered to be the old part of the island. "This place used to be home to a civilization from about nine-hundred years ago."
Something beeps, and everyone's attention turns to the panel of buttons and dials off further to their left. CP0 has shown up asking for entrance. The Vega Punk guy denies them, but they break in anyway and cause chaos. All the Straw Hats freak out wanting to be set free. Shaka presses a button and now they're allowed to move again. Everyone sighs in relief. Zoro walks over and just stares forward at a monitor showing that the government ship is being devoured by the sea monster robot things. "What're they trying to do?" Zoro asks. Shaka shrugs. "Not anything good." They were told that they couldn't enter, so that's their paying price. "They must've used the Pae-Paw Fruit to get onto the island. The Seraphim of Kuma." Shaka then presses a button and speaks into it. "Everyone, you need to evacuate the researchers and workers! Send Atlas back to the lab while you're at it. Mobilize the Seaphims that were given to the government, they need to be shut down."
Rob Lucci hurt her, Atlas. She was only trying to stop the intruder from entering. Atlas threw a punches that ended up with her getting punched even harder. She's broken that's why she needs to get back to the lab....
Everyone watches the monitor in horror as the giant girl falls to the ground with smoke and wires sticking out. Zoro digs his fingers into the palms of his hands. He relates when he sees a familiar idiot attacking CP0. "Luffy," he mumbles. Luffy attacks Rob Lucci and then goes off screen after a few minutes. The green haired swordsman quickly turns around when he feels someone behind him. It's a old man with an apple head. Everyone goes wide eyed and Franky starts crying. It's the original Doctor Vega Punk. Franky brings up that the Jinbe clone was using Senior Pink's devil fruit. "Are you saying that you made a copy of his fruit?" Robin asks.
"So far, it's only been possible to manufacture Zoan Fruits artificially," Doctor Vega Punk says. Nami reminds them of Caeser and using artificial fruits. "Right," they all say in unison and rolls their eyes. That guy is a weirdo.
"Fruits can be made artificially and most can be awakened. Paramecia types are more challenging. I found that I could synthesize a blood additive from a Paramecia users linage factor that will grant their power once transfused. That's what you see running through their veins." He's talking about the Seraphims that CP0 has. "I call it Green Blood."
Everyone eyes widen. "You created blood?!" Franky shouts in shock. "They might as well go down as the most powerful beings in the history of the world." Vega Punk says with a shrug. Zoro just stares in disbelief. 'This guy...' he thinks.
"So that's why the Warlords systems was abolished..." Zoro mutters.
On the monitors, Luffy and the others have disappeared completely. Zoro lost them and now he's punching himself internally for not watching the monitors more closely. Zoro then catches his attention on a conversation Nami and that damn cook are having with Doctor Vega Punk.
"Oh yeah, I suppose it would make sense to snuff out a potential liability like you—"
"That's grim, old man," Nami says shivering.
"How could you say something like that so casually??" Sanji asks. Zoro shivers slightly at the idea of what the old man is implying. Zoro begins talking with Shaka when he's interrupted by a voice that makes them both turn around.
"Roronoa Zoro. I knew your mother's mother. Incredible woman she was."
"What do you mean?" Zoro asks, turning his body to better face the man. The man smirks before licking his lips. This makes the green haired swordsman shudder. "She was very powerful. I wonder if you're anything like her..." Everyone hears this and just stares at the doctor.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me. I'm going with you on your ship," Vega Punk says.
"Really?!" Franky asks with sparkling eyes.
"Are ya gonna unbind our feet??" Sanji shouts angrily. He's the only one who isn't able to move around right now.
"Are you serious?" Nami asks ignoring the blonde idiot. Zoro and Robin don't say anything. They just stand their in silence. They're then told to wait while the doctor collects his things. "Is he really serious??" Nami asks, turning her question to the masked man now. Shaka nods without a word.
"Okay everyone, clear a path for Vegapunk to escape safely!" The Shaka says. "The agents are blocking off all exits and Vageforce can only fly within the islands...."
"They shouldn't be able to get up here, right?" A robot with a key head asks nervously.
"We're gonna get to fight, yeah??" Lilith asks with anticipation. She's practically already leaving the building.
"Lilith, don't run off on some mindless quest of yours," Shaka says with his arms crossed. Vegapunk three just runs around seemingly worried while Lilith pouts. Doctor Vegapunk puts on a large bag filled with god know what on his back.
Lilith argues with Shaka. "What?! What's so horrible about wanting to avenge Atlas' death??"
"Our goal is to not fight back or against them if necessary. It's to ensure Stella [Thats the original Doctor Vegapunk] escapes safely. Fighting on a whim will only bring us down and ensure the plan will fail—"
"Don't be such a downer," Lilith bites back like a little kid getting scolded. "Awe~ number 1 being the good widdle boy arguing what's wight and wrong. I hate you you self righteous prick!" She sticks her tongue out at him.
"Oh no. You've wounded me," Shaka with a heavy hint of sarcasm. Zoro snorts at the interaction. He's kinda bored and just listening to everyone at this point. He can hear them arguing from across the room.
Doctor Vegapunk leaves the control room and goes to find the Straw Hats who are sitting out in the hallway.
"Hello folks, if I may. I would like to request something. We're all ready, so may I re-quasar a spot on your ship for seven?" the doctor asks. Zoro sighs, "really?" Nami complains, "ew, no." Sanji widens his eyes with love at the possibility of having Lilith on board. "Is Lilith included?? If so, I'm all in for it!" Franky happily agrees. "I'm be down right honoured to sail with the greatest mind on the plant!" Robin just smiles.
Just then, a sudden metallic clicking can be heard. "Luffy!" Nami calls out. She sees their captain coming down this corridor straight at her. Sanji sighs deeply and Zoro turns his head over to look at the....who's that? Jewelry Bonnie? She runs passed them and Luffy stops at the group.
"We're leaving—" Robin says.
"What?? But we only just got here!" Luffy whines.
"You saw Rob Lucci, didn't you?? We can't stay here," Nami argues.
"Where's the Doctor?" Robin says looking around. Zoro points in the direction that him and Bonney ran off. "She's chasing him," Zoro bluntly says pointing down the hall to the left.
Number 1 comes out and looks around. "Where did Doctor Vegapunk go?"
"Bonney and him are talking," Luffy says without a clue in the world.
"Would you three mind coming with me?" Shaka points out to Nami, Zoro, and Robin. They all follow him into the control room.
"What?" Zoro asks.
"Are you kidding me?! Rob Lucci climbed all the way up there??" Nami asks, horrified.
"I'm sorry. It seems we had a systems malfunction," Shaka says out of the blue.
"Good thing Usopp and Brook are there. They should be able to handle their own," Nami says as she looks at the monitor that's showing their ship.
"It's two against three though. It depends on how they fight," Robin reminds.
"No, look closer," Shaka interrupts. "The odds seem worse then that." All three of their hearts drops to their stomachs at the masked man's words.
The Seraphim have arrived. Four of them. Jinbe, Kuma. Boa, and Mihawk.
"It's two against seven," Shaka says. "The Seraphim are equipped with just enough personality to make decisions for themselves according to the circumstances of the battle. So they sensed a brief period where the barrier was down. The CP0 can't control them like we do. They're programmed from our designs and instructions. So, they'll listen to us."
Zoro nods.
"Edison, Lilith. Continue what you're doing—"
"I don't take orders from you!" Lilith shouts through an intercom. Sanji nods like an idiot. He somehow entered the room without them noticing. "Oh how brave. Usopp dies in the line of
battle—"
"Don't be so rude, Sanji-kun! We've got to save them," Nami shouts.
"Well, this Sanjiphim will always listen to Nami's orders, but do we really have to save them?" he asks before taking off to go down and assist them. Zoro goes too.
A large boom echos through the halls as they run. It shakes the building. "What was that?" Sanji asks.
"Dunno. Maybe those kids are breaking the lab," Zoro wonders.
Once they get outside, they stop running and see that lab from the outside. The top is completely destroyed. "Seraphim! Stop fighting!" Lilith shouts from the broken portion of the building. "Now, Edison!" she shouts again before gasping. "Did he—" The blonde cook jumps out and catches something before landing on the ground.
"You mean him??" Sanji says happily as he holds out a Chopper sized robot in his hand. It looks scared. "That was close," it mumbles before turning around to thank him. Sanji nods with a smile.
"What are those things? Someone explain!" Usopp asks in fear as he hides behind Zoro who's hopped down next to the blonde cook.
"They're clones or something like that with different devil fruit powers," Zoro mentions with a grim expression. Kuina is standing with them as number four. 'How did they do that? Why her?' Zoro wonders.
When they all get back to the lab, Sanji noodles away to sit next to Nami. Zoro rolls his eyes and sees Luffy sitting on a couch next to Chopper panting really hard.
"The hell were you doing?" Zoro asks before taking a seat next to him before resting his arms in the backrest.
Luffy lets out a pant. "I ran all over the dang place! I can't find them..." he whines.
"He was trying to find Bonney and Doctor Vegapunk." Chopper fuses over Luffy.
"Where did that old man and Bonney go to anyway?" Luffy asks still breathing quite hard.
"Oh, you can see entire lab on these monitors here—" Shaka explains.
"What?? What did you say something earlier?!" Luffy shouts.
"You didn't ask. You just ran off..." Shaka says. Zoro smirks and walks over to the monitor. Luffy lays down on the couch. Usopp walks over to Zoro to see the monitors too. Nami and Robin 'watch' over Rob Lucci and that nose guy as they make sure they're both tied up and unconscious. Sanji fuses over a giant Vegapunk number six. Sloth with big heart eyes. Brook and Jinbe just stand back and watch this all unfold.
"We're suffering two anomalies at the moment," Shaka says. "Brace yourself for this. One is the disappearance of the STELLA and the other is the loss of control over the frontier dome."
"What do you mean? What was damaged?" Zoro asks.
"Well, when the Seraphims attacked the lab, they damaged some very curtail circuitry."
"Which means what?" Usopp asks.
"We are no longer able to leave the Labophase. You can assume that if we try to get out, we'll be fried by the lasers set in place."
"That's not good—"
"No, Zoro. That isn't good!!" Usopp freaks out as he runs away.
"But we're supposed to take the Punk guy off the island and have an adventure," Luffy pouts.
"That's true. However, the man in question is currently missing. So, what you all need to do is help find STELLA. In the meantime, I'll stay here and try to figure out a way to repair the dome."
"What's the point of trying to find him when you're all seeing monitors can't find him?" Franky interjects walking over. "I'll try fixing what I can, but there's not much I can really do without my tools." Franky nods.
"The camsnails are out," he mutters. Zoro looks at the screens and most of the monitors have gone fuzzy. Luffy gets up and asks why all the voices have suddenly cut out. Shaka says that everything has been cut. "Nothing is working, Strawhat."
"Someone else is in the lab." Shaka looks around and Zoro gets a little tense. Who could be here?
That's when they hear a loud crash from the other room. They rush in and see two Seraphims. S-Hawk and S-Bear. Kuma and Mihawk. They don't stop upon Shaka's command. They attack. Shaka comes to a conclusion. "Someone's trying to kill us. Between all that's happened, that's the only conclusion." Just as Shaka says that, Zoro hears groaning from in front of them. It's that nose guy and Lucci. They want to be set free. Zoro scoffs. "I can't see a future where you'd let us lock you guys up again." The nose guy says no. He'll let them lock them up again and like the gullible fool Luffy is, he believes him. Zoro shouts at his captain. Tiny Mihawk charges them and attacks, knocking everyone over.
The nose guy wants Zoro to protect them since they're the ones tied up. Zoro scoffs and gets into a fighting stance. "What's your mission, CP0?" Shaka asks.
"The elimination of the seven Vega Punks," Lucci says confidently. The nose guy panics because his parents just told everyone their plan.
"HELP!"
They all hear a scream. Zoro recognizes it. "That's Nami's scream!" he says to Luffy. The strawhat captain nods and asks Shaka for the keys to the handcuffs. He just hands them over. "Alright, I'll leave everything to you. Please protect the Stella." Shaka steps back and into the lab. He's no good in a fight like this.
"After we stop these enemies. Since you can't beat me, you won't go after my friends or the Vega Punks, right?" Luffy asks. Zoro deadpans. "You idiot, don't provoke them!" Lucci reluctantly agrees to Luffy's terms, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to kill him. Zoro doesn't want them to join the battle. Luffy doesn't care. He unlocks their cuffs and they help with the fighting.
Both Lucci and Luffy go after S-Bear. The smaller Kuma. Zoro and the nose guy go after S-Hawk or tiny Mihawk. When their attacks don't work as well as they thought, they all take a step back to think. Zoro hasn't seen the Kuina one yet, so he wonders where she could be. However, his mind quickly switches back to the task at hand.
"They're getting up way too easily!" Luffy whines. "Do they think they're Kaido or something??"
That sparks a memory in Zoro's head. "Now that you mention it, they kinda remind me of that King guy."
"A Lunarian on Kaido's crew?" Shaka asks, walking back into the room. Zoro nods. "Yeah...."
"I see. That must've been Alber. The test subject, who long ago escaped Punk Hazard with Kaido. The Seraphims own their toughness to his Lunarian blood," Shaka explains.
Zoro nods. "In that case, okay, attention to the flames on their backs. Our attacks will only be affective when they're out," he explains. "They will practically be invincible when they're on. My bad, though. If I had clocked in on that sooner, it would've saved us some stamina."
"With this intel, we can finally make some progress," Lucci says.
"I don't know why I didn't realize it sooner. There were only a few features that I remember. Darker skin, black feathers, white hair, and the flames—"
"Idiot!!" The three of them tell in unison. Zoro rolls his working eye. Guess he's back to one working eye... maybe. He hasn't tried to open it since Kuina attacked him.
Shaka begins to walk away when Luffy calls out to him. "Where are you going?"
"I think I might know where Stella went off to." He walks past all of them, and Zoro protects the guy from getting hit. 'Where's he going?' Zoro thinks.
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.
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After fighting for what seems like hours, Zoro and Luffy stand there attempting to catch their breaths. The flames aren't going out. They're still not able to beat them.
Luffy gasps, "Forget out the flames—where did that mini Hawk-guy go??" The strawhat looks around in a panic.
"Where'd he go?" Zoro asks.
"Looks like he changed the order to kill us. We'll have to deal with him later, though," Lucci reminds.
"He might be after the wearer ones first. That probably means your crew, Strawhat—" the nose guy says.
"What?!—" Luffy shouts.
"Leave him up to me!" Zoro shouts before running off. Luffy steps forward but stops. He trusts Zoro to be safe and fight his hardest. "Oi, Usopp—nose—guy, go with Zoro!"
The nose guy growls before shaking his head. "Wait up, Roronoa!" He runs after him.
They managed to capture S-Hawk and S-Bear, where Lilith had them trapped in a bubble each. They get the other three and do the same. S-Snake and S-Fish. Hancock and Jinbe.
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Zoro, Luffy, and Nami are all around York. She's betrayed the Vega Punks in order to become a Celestial Dragon. She wants the five elders to get rid of the Strawhats before they hurt her. Zoro isn't having it. Nami finally understands what she's after.
"Let's just use her as a shield to escape," Bonny suggests before taking a bite of an apple. "It's a hostage situation, ya know?" she chuckles into the snail's receiver. Luffy grabs it from her and takes a breath before speaking.
"Hello, I'm Monkey D Luffy, and I'm the man who will become the Pirate King."
Nami deadpans. "What's you doing, you baffoon?!"
"We are in alliance with Doctor Vegapunk. If you care about York's safety, then withdraw your fleet from shore," Luffy says with a serious tone. Zoro and the crew have rarely seen him this focused before. 'He's grown,' Zoro smirks.
"This is Monkey D Luffy?" A man asks.
"Yes."
"Who is alive with you in Labophase?"
"If you count the injured ones, fifteen—ow!" Luffy was hit on the head by Nami. "Don't say anything, Luffy!" Usopp says in a hushed tone. "Careful," says Robin.
"A woman's voice.... Is that Nico Robin?"
Luffy covers the receiver. "Don't talk with them. It'll only give them more information about us," Robin says as she sits next to Nami.
"My bad—but will that make them withdraw their fleet??" Luffy asks.
"Like hell it will!" Usopp shouts at his captain.
Another man's voice comes through. "We have to protect three things. First, physical safety of York. Second, the Punks' work and third, the power we need to produce the Mother Flame. Everything but those can be lost." The line goes silent.
York starts whining, and Nami smacks her, which makes her whine even more. Robin tells her to stop. "She's unarmed." Nami rolls her eyes and steps away. Zoro looks around. Lucci seems off, but he doesn't know what's off about him. Two of the Vegapunks are dead, and four are severely injured. Zoro sits back as Usopp tries contacting the underground lab. They're all alive and okay. They're all eating and enjoying being free.
One of the Vegapunks is trying to unlock the sheiks, but it's not working. Apparently, York locked everything with a password that she didn't share. Lilith tries attacking her, but she's pulled back. Stella (Original Vegapunk) is talking with Nami. That's when Zoro decides to close his eyes. He's feeling a bit off. Dizzy is the right word. He opens his eye and slowly opens the other one. Thankfully, the slash that the Kuina Seraphim dealt to his face didn't cut his eyeball. He's all good. He blinks a few times before leaving the big area with everyone in it. He finds a washroom and quickly rushes over to the toilet before throwing up. He drops to his knees and empties his stomach into the toilet.
When he's done, he flushes the toilet and sits back against the wall for a minute before getting up and rinsing out his mouth. He then sits back on the floor, again taking a few deep breaths. Just then, he hears the door open. Great, he forgot to lock it.....
Notes:
Hello, update for everyone. Oops should've done this sooner. I'm continuing the fic here. It's a rewrite because I thought that this was layout was too long.
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https://archiveofourown.org/works/50836201