Chapter Text
“Don’t you need to go back to your crew?”
She regrets the words as soon as they leave her mouth. She shouldn’t though. Zoro has people he travels with; they might need to know where is.
“Yeah, eventually,” Zoro says before flopping backwards and closing his eyes.
She shrugs and lies back too. With shade being cast from the building above them, the rooftop they ended up on is pretty nice. It’s peaceful, and lying here brings back memories of resting between training sessions.
“Our Log Pose already reset. Fish-Man Island,” Zoro grunts.
Fish-Man Island? Why does that strike a chord with her? She closes her eyes and breathes in time with her heartbeat. There was a promise she made—ah, the fishman.
“Isn’t that in Ryugu Kingdom? I need to go there,” she realizes.
It feels like a lifetime ago since she made that promise, but it really hasn’t been that long. Not with the damn time travel setting her back. She wonders if Tairona has even made it to the kingdom yet.
“You could come with us,” Zoro says.
The tenseness in his voice makes her wary. She’d be more than happy to catch a ride with pirates she can reasonably trust, but something in her gut tells her to consider the offer carefully.
“I’ll think about it,” she ends up saying. “You’ll need to ask your captain about it anyway.”
“I only need to point at you and say, ‘She’s coming with us,’ ” Zoro says flatly.
That makes her pause. From what she’s learned, pirate captains don’t take kindly to any of the crew making such decisions. Either Zoro overestimates his importance, or the Straw Hat pirates are a strange one.
“That would work? Really?” She asks in disbelief.
“Really. Wouldn’t hurt for you to meet him. He already knows about you,” Zoro tells her.
It seems her impression of Zoro being tight-lipped is wrong. She speculates on what he’s said about her. Only good things, she hopes. If not, she’ll have to dump him back into the canal.
“Alright, take me to see your captain,” she says, making her decision.
Perhaps she’ll get an answer to her question, the one she asked so long ago in Loguetown. What kind of captain is Monkey D. Luffy?
Zoro takes her to the Galley-La where his crew mostly hangs out. She doesn’t point it out when they pass the building at least three times. The fact that he can’t see the sign when it’s staring him in the face is hilarious.
“Hey, where have you been? Chopper’s been worried sick!” A woman with orange hair demands the moment they walk in.
“Harpy,” Zoro mutters to her.
This must be Nami then. Playing cards lie stacked on a table in a lone game, and she remembers Zoro saying that their navigator was the one most likely to find a non-destructive hobby during downtime. The woman glares at Zoro before taking notice of her.
“Oh, who’s this?” Nami asks, staring at her wings before moving to her pink sword.
“A friend of mine. She flew in,” Zoro says.
“Not by choice,” she reminds him before nodding in greeting. “I’m Kuina. Tell me if he’s said anything bad about me.”
He certainly didn’t say anything nice about Nami. Any compliments towards the woman came out begrudgingly and irritably. She wouldn’t be surprised if Zoro acted the same way about the girl that used to consistently beat him up.
“He hasn’t mentioned you at all. You’re not a Sky Person, are you?” Nami asks.
Nami leans an elbow against the table casually only to mess up a stack of cards. With the way the woman is eyeing her wings, she’s reminded of the fact that Nami is also an expert thief; she’s probably weighing the risks and payoffs of selling them. She tucks her wings in at the thought.
“Not technically,” she answers.
“So you and Zoro—” Nami looks between the two of them with raised eyebrows.
“Luffy’s not here. Let’s go,” Zoro says, making for the exit.
“Hey, wait a moment! Your bounty came in while you were out!” Nami waves to Zoro.
Pulling out a poster from a rucksack, Nami spreads it over the playing cards. Zoro’s leaning over the table in a flash, and she hesitates before stepping up beside him. It’s a close-up of Zoro’s bleeding face while an explosion goes off behind him. It makes for a cool poster, but the bounty underneath it—
120,000,000 beli. Damn.
“We all got bounties,” Nami says before laying out her own on top of Zoro’s. “Even Chopper. At least mine looks good.”
The poster’s picture might as well have been taken at a model shooting. Underneath Nami’s epithet of “Cat Burglar” is a price of 16,000,000. It’s incredibly high for someone who’s only a navigator. These Straw Hats really aren’t playing around.
Zoro hurries her out the door before she can do anything other than make eye contact with Nami. She gets the feeling that there’s a worry about something getting said, but she’s not sure what. She puts it to the back of her mind and continues to help look for Zoro’s wayward captain.
“I never understood why they called you ‘Pirate Hunter,’ ” she remarks, scanning the area for signs of a straw hat or an impossibly wide grin.
“It’s because I earned that name before I became a pirate. When I did the bounties.”
“I think your title should be something that suits you. Perhaps Crybaby Zoro? Or Not So Bright Zoro?” She teases.
“Your sense of humor still sucks,” Zoro notes dryly.
She sees a flash of what could be a straw hat in the corner of her eye, and it makes her grab the back of Zoro’s shirt. He must not feel the tugging because he doesn’t stop, causing her to trip into his back. He goes rigid, and she glances down at the scabbard that hits her leg.
“Is that a scuff on Wado Ichimonji? I’ll need to make an inspection.” She pushes herself off of Zoro and attempts to find the source of the flash.
She was joking, but when she looks back, Zoro is in the middle of taking Wado Ichimonji off. She can only look on, dumbfounded, as he presents it to her. His face is completely serious as he holds up the katana for her.
“Don’t do that. The sword is yours. It belongs to the greatest swordsman of the future,” she tells him.
She knows by their duel how seriously Zoro treats the blade. Wado Ichimonji is better off in his hands than hers. She holds too many bad feelings towards it, so there’s no need for Zoro to act otherwise.
“Zorooo, where’ve you been?”
It’s the only warning they get before something slams into Zoro’s back. She moves quickly. Wado Ichimonji lands into her arms, and she steps out of the way of Zoro’s fall into the stone pavement.
“We got our bounties but you weren’t there! You should totally see Sanji’s! Shishishishi, his face is funny.”
Monkey D. Luffy, she thinks, is just as loud as she thought he’d be. Arms stretching impossibly, Luffy laughs at Zoro’s attempts to stand and shake him off. The scene looks absurdly like a monkey holding onto a moss-covered rock.
This is your master and his master, she thinks while petting the white katana with sympathy.
“Get off, Luffy!” Zoro shouts, trying to dislodge the rubbery arms strangling him.
“Hey, who are you?” Luffy asks, only now noticing her.
The Straw Hat captain lets go of Zoro and falls to the ground. Wide eyes and a dopey grin make him look a foolish boy, but she notices that his grin grows a little sharper and his eyes a little colder upon seeing Wado Ichimonji in her hold.
Not completely stupid then. She tilts her head and examines the man. She’s not impressed, but there has to be a reason that Zoro’s so enthralled with him.
“This is my betrothed,” Zoro declares, nodding at her.
His what?
“Oh! You’re Zoro’s sword!” Luffy says, slamming a fist against his hand in realization.
His what?
“No wonder you’re holding that. Zoro, we’re going to see our new ship tomorrow! Don’t forget to bring Wado with you,” Luffy points at her.
“It’s Wado Ichimonji.” Both Zoro and she say immediately.
“You should really think about changing your name. It’s way too long,” Luffy says, getting up to lean into her personal space.
“I’m Kuina,” she says, feeling something of a headache coming on.
“Great, that’ll be easier to say! Chopper’s buying me some ice-cream. I better go before he eats it all,” Luffy says before grabbing the ground and walking backwards. “Don't marry Hawk-Eyes!”
Luffy shoots off like a rubber band, and she feels something in her brain break. Betrothed—Hawk-eyes—sword—what?
“That,” she tries and fails to say. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“No one ever does,” Zoro says solemnly.
Zoro and she look for something to eat, and they end up at a table for two outside by the water. She traces the rim of her wine glass and tries to put her thoughts in order. She’s been silent so far, unable to question anything. The fact that Zoro orders wine for her escapes her.
“Did your captain just call me a sword?” She starts with.
“I think he called you Wado Ichimonji,” Zoro smirks, “but he’s already accepted your presence aboard our ship. We never had to say anything.”
It’s said knowingly, like of course the captain would somehow already know what they wanted to ask. Belatedly, she realizes she never actually got an answer to her question: what kind of captain is Monkey D. Luffy?
“Zoro, when you said I was your betrothed—” She begins before the words die in her throat.
“That was the agreement for Wado Ichimonji,” Zoro says.
She can already see it; see a tiny, stupid Zoro taking the so-called engagement seriously. When she left all those years ago, she had forgotten to mention it in her letter, had thought Zoro would know she wasn’t being serious. Worst case, she had arrogantly thought, she’d never see Zoro again, and he’d give up and move on.
“Oh,” she says into her wine.
She really was something, wasn’t she? How long did she keep Zoro chained down to a contract made as a child?
“Zoro, what did my father say to you regarding me and Wado Ichimonji?” She asks tentatively.
“I have until I’m twenty-five to become the world’s greatest swordsman, or you’ll marry Mihawk,” he says bluntly.
She nearly falls out of her chair at that. What the hell, father. Wasn’t the agreement of marrying the greatest swordsman near her age? When did Mihawk factor in, and how come she never knew about it?
“Zoro, you’re misunderstanding,” she says, hiding her face behind a sleeve. “I don’t have anything going on with Mihawk, but I don’t have anything going on with you either. Wado Ichimonji is my gift to you, but you don’t have to do anything in return.”
“We made a promise,” Zoro eventually says. “I’ll convince you of it.”
“What, are you going to seduce me?” She asks mockingly.
The damning silence gives her a small heart attack. She takes a peek at Zoro only to move her eyes to her wine glass. That serious expression of his is making her want to run away.
“Come with us to Fish-Man Island,” Zoro says with an intensity she can’t ignore. “I can prove to you that there’s a home waiting for you with me.”
“A home sounds nice,” she whispers, “but I’m not sure you’ll find one with me. I’m not very lovable.”
“You don’t have to be, to still be loved,” Zoro points out.
Her brain sputters to a halt. Really, how is she supposed to deal with all this? What is she supposed to say? As if understanding her dilemma, Zoro excuses himself to check up on his captain.
“If you don’t want to come, you can wait for them to fix the sea train. It won’t take long, and this isn’t a bad place to stay,” Zoro throws over his shoulder.
She continues staring into her wine blankly as she runs everything through her head. To still be loved, he said.
…love? What does she know about romantic love? She doesn’t experience sexual attraction; it’s impossible for her. But there had been exceptions in the last life.
There was his best friend, the man with the beautiful smile. Pursuit of that romance had been nigh impossible, and he gave up quietly, miserably. The second was a woman who was deemed more acceptable by society and his mother. Then she broke him in a way no one else had.
She’s not sure she can stomach the pain of love again. She’s not sure she can put Zoro through being in a relationship with someone so bad at it. Zoro deserves better than that, than her.
Downing the wine in one go, she ends up ordering an entire bottle to guzzle down. The terrible part of this whole mess is that she’s honestly not that opposed to the idea. If she was, it would have been an easy rejection on her part.
She ends up walking to the train station. Looking up at the sign declaring it to be “Down for Maintenance,” she wonders how long it would take. It’d be nice to travel by train for once instead of sailing. That might take the fun out of exploring though.
If she goes with the Straw Hats, with Zoro, wouldn’t that make it harder to sort out her thoughts? Could she stay on the same ship with him and not get muddled further?
She could stay here until the train is repaired or until another pirate ship comes through. She could even stay in her hotel room until Zoro leaves if she wanted to. She doesn’t though.
She doesn’t want to say goodbye to Zoro. She wants to stay by his side and laugh at his stupid stunts and watch the clouds together. She wants to keep seeing new things, wants to turn to Zoro and say, “Did you see that?”
But she doesn’t want to give him false hope if her feelings don’t work out, if she wants to only be friends.
(She doesn’t want Zoro to see the real her and say, “Ew.” Her heart can’t take that again.)
Her thoughts take her in circles and night falls before she realizes it. The noise around her seems amplified for some reason, and she ends up on the same building from earlier. The lights all around the city give the place a dim glow.
“I just don’t know!” She yells before collapsing against the roof.
There’s no one to get advice from. She’s only met the Straw Hat pirates since she got here, and whatever they have to say will be heavily biased in Zoro’s favor.
Staring up at the sky in defeat, an idea hits her. No matter how she feels like it, she isn’t alone. Her hand moves to Tsubasa de Tobu’s hilt, and she removes the katana from her hip, scabbard and all.
“Wherever your blade lands is where I’ll go. Strike true, Tsubasa de Tobu,” she says before tossing the sword up.
The sword spins in the air, and she holds her breath. Her fate rests on the katana’s decision. It lands with a loud clack, and she follows the direction of the scabbard with her eyes.
“So there then? I see. Thank you,” she tells the sword.
Tsubasa de Tobu has never led her wrong yet. Even if she has misgivings about where it points her to, she goes to tell Zoro the results the following morning.
“I’ve made up my mind. I’m not a pirate,” she says, bursting through Galley-La’s doors.
The Straw Hats all have bags in hand, and she examines the entirety of the crew. Luffy stands frozen in the middle of waving his arms and shouting something, and Nami blinks at her from a chair. Sanji gapes at her next to Chopper whose bag droops to the floor. The woman leaning against the wall must be Robin, who stares at her silently.
“Which means I’ll be paying my way on board as a passenger. Please take care of me,” she says with a small bow.
Zoro smiles at her, and she smiles back.