28...
Title: First Mate
Theme: Set #3 - Brother
Claim: Zoro
Words: 3815
Rating: PG
Warnings: Post-current-canon fic. Swearing. Third of an arc beginning with " Promised Farewell". Includes references to the Old Nemesis arc and the Adventures of Young Roronoa Zoro arc. And, I descended into a spot of Rurouni Kenshin-inspired crack in the end.
Disclaimers: I don't own One Piece.
When Zoro awoke after the battle, it was to a familiar room and a familiar bed. "Great," he murmured, trying to move his hand up to nurse his aching head. His hand stopped a few inches away from the rail that ran around the edge of the bed and refused to move any further. "What the hell..."
He swivelled his head to look towards his right, and discovered the reason. Apparently the crew had finally found a use for Silvertongue's handcuffs.
He sat up slowly, and looked around. Once upon a time, he would have found the crew gathered around his bed, waiting eagerly for him to wake up, but now the infirmary was empty and silent. And judging from the "hospitality" they were showing him - he pulled at the handcuffs again, wondering whether to just rip the rail off the bed - he wasn't even at the level of a guest anymore.
At least he'd been wrong about those bandages after the fight with Mihawk being the last ones Chopper would ever put on him. Of course, these could be the work of another doctor, but from the way the almost punishingly excessive amounts wound around his body, he was pretty sure they belonged to the little reindeer.
Then again, Chopper would treat anyone who needed a doctor. It wasn't out of consideration for him, personally. And the fact that he wasn't even here for his waking up told Zoro one thing.
He fell back in bed and released a long sigh. This was going to be awkward.
As it turned out, the first people he saw weren't members of the crew at all. He glared apprehensively at the pair as they came in. "What are you two doing on board a pirate ship?" he asked.
"We wouldn't have to be on this ship if it wasn't for you, Roronoa," Smoker rapped out at him.
"What did I do?"
Smoker scowled at him from around his two cigars. "You really don't remember, do you, Roronoa?" He jerked his head towards Tashigi. Zoro had been studiously avoiding meeting her gaze, but he forced himself to, telling him that now that he was no longer beholden to Kuina's memory, he shouldn't be afraid of her face anymore.
It was still weird, though. He let his eyes stray downwards.
"My katana!"
"I've been taking care of them for you," Tashigi said, setting them down by the side of his bed. "Especially making sure that Sandai Kitetsu doesn't slaughter anyone."
"Thanks," Zoro muttered grudgingly. "But I thought your aim was to take every named katana out of the hands of people who would use them for their own selfish ends."
"It still is," she said solemnly. "And what I told you before was true. Your katana were crying."
"They were?" Zoro shot a glance over at his swords. "Then why...?"
"They were crying for you," Tashigi explained. "And, I realised that you weren't a selfish person."
"Um, thanks. But I still don't get what two Marines are doing on this ship."
"So you really were delirious. Tch," Smoker said disgustedly. He went on to recount what Zoro had said to Tashigi, when he had thought she was Kuina, and what it had meant for the two Marines. Zoro turned a deep shade of crimson.
"You mean I told you that?" he groaned. He had never confided those thoughts to anyone. Not even the crew. Not even Sensei!
"Your embarrassment isn't the issue here! We'll probably lose our careers, once the top brass discover that we helped you and your crew escape in the middle of the battle!"
"Oh yeah. Sorry 'bout that," Zoro shrugged. "But why did you do it?"
"There comes a time when you have to decide whether your justice and your organisation's justice are one and the same thing," Smoker said. "I couldn't say that was true."
Zoro nodded in understanding. He had always counted himself lucky that his captain's ideas about what was right and wrong had always coincided with his. Then he winced, remembering that Luffy was no longer his captain.
Smoker noticed the wince, and guessed where it stemmed from. He stood up to go. "We only came to return those," he said, nodding at the katana. "We'll say good riddance here."
Zoro had to smile. "Bye, 'Smokey'."
Before Tashigi could follow him, Zoro called out to her. "Tashigi, wait!" She turned and gave him an inquiring look. "Listen, I'm, er, sorry about mistaking you for Kuina."
"That's okay. We must look really similar."
"Yeah, it's kinda spooky," Zoro admitted. He looked at the green katana strapped to Tashigi's waist. "You know, it's true. She really did beat me all the time, you know. No reason in the world girls can't be world's greatest swordsman, no matter what people say."
"Are you challenging me to a match? I may have less arm strength than a man, but I still wouldn't fight a man who's injured and half-dead," she said with a smile. "It wouldn't be honourable."
"Not now," Zoro agreed, "but someday."
Tashigi nodded solemnly. "I'll look forward to it." She shot him a parting smile, and left.
Zoro waited for a while for someone else to come in, before he got too impatient and used Wado Ichimonji to slice off the handcuffs. He got up slowly, grimacing at the pain that shot through his body, especially his torn back muscles, and made his way outside, and the pain was replaced with a rush of relief.
They were all there. None of them had been hurt, or killed, rescuing him.
But none of them were paying him any attention, either, until Chopper looked up from his herbs and gasped. "Ahhhhhhhhhh! Zoro! What are doing..." Then Chopper seemed to recollect something, and he clapped his hooves over his mouth. He looked down at his herbs again, but Zoro could see a lone tear make its way down the reindeer's face.
Damn. He'd made Chopper cry.
He couldn't blame them for the silent treatment. Fair was fair, after what he'd made them do to Usopp back at Water 7. He was even a bit proud that they'd remembered. But yes, this was awkward.
He sighed, and sat himself down in the middle of the deck.
"Listen, you guys." He could see every ear pricking up, although they still studiously avoided looking around at him. "I'm not going to apologise for leaving. It was something I had to do."
A collective sigh ran around the deck. Zoro frowned. He was not good at apologising.
"And you guys really shouldn't have come after me. You were so close to the end of the Grand Line - so close to your dreams. But I guess I shouldn't have trusted the shit cook to deliver such an important message."
He watched as the veins on Sanji's neck and forehead swelled with indignation. He could tell from the twitching of the cook's leg muscles that they was just itching to make contact with his head.
"But you came to get me anyway. So, I owe you my life. You can do whatever you want with me, take me along, beat me up, throw me overboard, whatever." He scratched his head awkwardly. "Though I doubt that you'd want to take me along, seeing as I hurt you guys. A lot. And I'm sorry for that. Although, that doesn't mean I wouldn't do the same thing over again. But yeah, I'm sorry if I made you guys cry or anything."
There was a brief silence, then Sanji addressed Luffy. "Oi, Captain. Is that enough of an apology so we can start beating him up, now?"
Luffy gave the gesture to go ahead, and immediately the others leapt to their feet, towering over Zoro.
"What kind of half-assed apology was that, Zoro? 'Sorry, but I wouldn't have done anything differently'?" Usopp scolded.
"Well, it's true," Zoro said defensively. Next thing he knew, he was being slapped in the face. "Ow! Nami?"
"Did you really think you could get away without paying up the rest of your debt, Zoro?"
"But you said before that I could pay back my debt by...ow!" She'd slapped him again.
"It really was most inconsiderate of you, Swordsman-san." Zoro felt various hands sprout all over his body. "If you had told us, we would have made arrangements for you to satisfy your part of the bargain, as well as arrangements to get rescued."
"Yeah, well, I didn't really expect the rescue part - ow!" Zoro protested as various parts of his body went crunch in a most alarming and painful way.
"We were supposed to go all the way to the end of the Grand Line together, bro! And you abandoned us! That was not super!" Franky sobbed. Then he abruptly stopped crying and asked, "Ow, Chopper-bro, where are we allowed to hit him?"
"Anywhere he isn't bandaged up," Chopper said.
Franky surveyed Zoro's bandaged body. "That leaves only his head."
"Yeah, well, there's nothing valuable in there anyway," Chopper replied grimly. He transformed to Heavy Point. Not a good sign.
"What! Chopper? What kind of doctor...ow!" Zoro reeled as Franky's steel fist came into contact with the right side of his head, and then Chopper's with his left.
"Allow me to add mine to the mix!" Brook contributed his own extremely bony effort to the top of Zoro's head.
"Eat this, Zoro!" Usopp topped everything off by firing a Tabasco Boshi at Zoro's eyes.
"Gah! What the hell?" Zoro tried to rub away the stinging sensation, only to find that it just made things worse by spreading the sauce around. He looked up through watering eyes, to see Sanji looming before him, leg poised to strike.
"So I don't deliver messages properly, huh, Zoro?" Sanji's voice was laced with menace. "How would you have liked to have deliver that one, huh? 'Sorry, Captain, one of your crew just skipped out on you.' Do you have any idea what it was like to have to tell him about Thriller Bark?" His leg came crashing down on Zoro's head, in a much more painful strike than anyone else's had been. "Do you have any idea what it was like to see his reaction to that? Don't you know what you fucking mean to him?" Each question mark turned into a vicious kick.
"Ow...ow...ow...okay! Okay! I'm sorry! Geez!"
"Not fucking sorry enough!" Sanji brought up his leg once more.
"That's enough, Sanji." Zoro looked up and saw Luffy, and gave an inward groan. Sanji's kicks were preferable to anything Luffy might do - or say - to him.
"Zoro." Luffy's voice was dead serious, and Zoro swallowed, a tad nervously. "Is it true? Back in Thriller Bark? You really offered your life in exchange for mine?"
I wasn't the only one! Zoro wanted to say, but he could only nod dumbly.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Luffy roared, and slammed Zoro into the wood of the deck.
"I..." Zoro was at a loss for words. What did he do it for? He hadn't even had to think. It wasn't even a conscious decision. "It was just something I had to do," he muttered.
"Perhaps I might be able to help to explain Swordsman-san's reasoning, since he appears unable to articulate it for himself," Robin said. "I believe that over the course of your journey together, Swordsman-san became gradually more and more emotionally invested in the crew. He began to regard you all - us all - as a family. In particular, he regarded you as a little brother. And, very much like your brother Ace, he couldn't bear to see you die before his eyes. So he volunteered himself in your place. Am I correct, Swordsman-san?"
Well, if she put it that way... "I guess," Zoro admitted.
Luffy stared at him blankly for a few moments, then raised his voice. "You're NOT my brother!"
Zoro winced a little, remembering the day he'd met Luffy again on Amazon Lily after all that time apart, when they'd agreed they were family. They were brothers. He'd thought he could come to terms with no longer being a member of the crew, but still, that stung.
"I don't want the crew to be my brothers and sisters if that means you're going to die protecting me! I'll protect myself! I don't want Zoro to be my brother if that means you think it's okay to die on my behalf! It's not okay! I don't want that!"
"Luffy..." Zoro began, but Luffy interrupted.
"I don't want a brother. I don't need a brother."
"Okay, Luffy," Zoro said heavily. "I get the picture." He rose on his haunches, but Luffy pushed him back down.
"What I need right now, what I want, is a first mate."
"A first mate?"
"I don't want someone to look after me. I want someone to look after the crew. And I want that someone to be you."
Zoro gaped at Luffy. "Are you sure? After what I did?"
"Yup. Because I decided that I don't want to be Pirate King anymore."
"WHAT?" Zoro got to his feet, and grabbed Luffy by the shoulder. "What did you just say?"
"I don't wanna be Pirate King anymore," Luffy repeated. Then he grinned. "Unless - Zoro's there to see it happen."
"I've changed my dream too," Nami announced. "I'm going to sail the Blues and make a world map - with Zoro by my side."
"I'm gonna become a brave warrior of the seas, and I want Zoro to be there to see it," Usopp grinned.
"You're damn annoying, shitty marimo, but...if I find All Blue and you're not around, it wouldn't be the same," Sanji said.
"And I'm going to become a great doctor who can cure anyone no matter how injured or sick they are, and since Zoro's the person I practise on the most, it wouldn't be fair if he weren't there to see it!" Chopper said.
"Oi," Zoro growled, but it was getting hard to conceal the welling emotion now.
"Swordsman-san and I have similar grudges against the World Government. I think you'd be just as interested as I am to see what the True History has to tell us."
Zoro nodded. He had to admit, he was curious about that.
"And I wanted to sail around the world with you guys on the Thousand Sunny. It wouldn't be super if one of us was missing."
"And I'm sure Laboon is waiting for you just as he's waiting for all of us, Zoro-san," Brook said solemnly. "Yohohoho!"
Zoro clenched his fists. "Are you sure about this?" After all he'd done, he felt like he was getting off awfully easy. Reinstated to the crew. First Mate. Back where he belonged, at Luffy's side, without any old promises looming over his head.
"Yup! We're sure," Luffy grinned.
"Everyone's okay with this?"
"We might beat you up some more, but yeah, we're okay with it," Sanji said.
"Okay. I'll be your First Mate, Luffy."
"Yahoo!" Luffy snagged Zoro in a hug, from which Zoro extricated himself with difficulty.
"Looks like I'm going to need a new dream as well, huh?"
"Oh yeah! You can't be a Strawhat without a dream! What's it gonna be, Zoro?" Luffy asked excitedly.
"My new dream...my new dream is to see all you guys accomplish your dreams," Zoro decided. And do whatever he could to help them there.
"And - " Luffy waggled a finger at him sternly - "you're not allowed to offer your life for any of ours, anymore. You're not allowed to die."
"Or the entire value of One Piece will be added to your debt!" Nami added.
"That's right! And, it's captain's orders! Got it, Zoro?"
Zoro sighed. "Yeah, I got it. Captain."
Everyone grinned and gave Zoro a round of hugs - until Chopper spotted the incriminating evidence. "ZORO! Why are you crossing your fingers?!"
"3193...3194...3195..." Zoro trailed off in the midst of his exercises when he heard a sound behind him. He looked around to see the familiar figure of Mihawk. He set down the weight and wiped off his sweat with the towel slung around his neck. "What are you doing here?"
"Your crew asked me to replace you as swordsman for a short while, while you were missing. They also needed my Eternal Pose to Marineford in order to bring you back."
"So...you heard everything," Zoro said, alluding to the emotional conversation the crew had had earlier.
"I did. It was most interesting."
Zoro sighed. "So? Are you here to lecture me too?"
The former shichibukai gave a faint smirk. "Yes."
Zoro made a face, and gestured for Mihawk to make himself comfortable on the bench that ran around the perimeter of the crow's nest.
"Two-tonne weights," Mihawk observed. "How primitive."
Once upon a time Zoro's temper may have flared at the slight, but now he simply took it in stride and asked, "Why, how do you train?"
Mihawk gave a dismissive gesture. "I would not presume to tell the world's greatest swordsman how to train." Zoro couldn't resist a grin. "Assuming, of course, you are the world's greatest swordsman." The grin rapidly disappeared.
"What do you mean by that?" Zoro demanded.
"Well, think about it. For years, I have stood unrivalled as world's greatest swordsman, with only fools such as yourself who dared to challenge me."
"So?" Zoro frowned.
"Now that you have successfully challenged me, there will be others who will be keen to test themselves against you."
"Good luck to them," Zoro growled competitively.
"Indeed. But there are others who care little to nothing about the title, who have not stepped forward, and probably never will."
"So? I can't go around the world challenging every swordsman in the world to a duel," Zoro objected. It might be fun, but he had other responsibilities now.
"No, but before you can declare yourself the world's greatest swordsman, you should think about other swordsmen you have known and never beaten."
Zoro frowned and thought hard. As far as he could remember, there was only one person he had ever lost a duel to besides Mihawk, and she was dead.
"I'd be surprised if you had no such person in your life," Mihawk went on.
"Wait - yeah," Zoro realised. "Yes, there is someone." It was odd, but he'd never really thought about him as an opponent.
"Until you've beaten that person, the world may call you world's greatest swordsman, but in your heart, I think you'll know that's not true."
Zoro nodded solemnly. "Yeah. I guess you're right."
"Of course I'm right." Mihawk stood up. "Now, for the last of what I'm supposed to impart to you, before I go. Of course, we were supposed to do this weeks ago."
"Huh?" Zoro had never thought there would be some sort of official handing-over ceremony for world's greatest swordsmen.
"Here." Mihawk whisked off his cape with a flourish, and handed it over to Zoro. "This was given to me by the man I beat to become world's greatest swordsman. It is now yours."
Zoro gawked at the gaudy cloak. "I'm supposed to wear that?"
"Indeed. Don't you want it?"
"NO!" Zoro could only think of the hysterical laughter Sanji and the rest of the crew would burst into if they saw him wearing a thing like that.
"Perhaps the hat, then," Mihawk offered.
Zoro eyed the plume perking itself proudly beyond the crown of the hat. "I...don't think that's really my style."
"Tradition dictates that I hand something over to you, in acknowledgment of your having defeated me. If not the cloak or the hat, then I suppose it must be Kokutou Yoru." He unbuckled the giant black sword from his back, and held it out to Zoro.
"I wouldn't ask you to give up your katana," Zoro said, putting a hand on his own. He could feel their consternation at one of them - or all of them - having to make way for a new sword. They relaxed again at his reassuring touch. Not that that gigantic sword would fit his fighting style, anyway. "If you have to give me something, then I want that." He nodded at the dagger that hung around Mihawk's neck.
"This? Do you really want to carry around a permanent reminder of your only defeat?" Mihawk took it out from around his neck and tossed it over to Zoro, who caught it deftly.
"Not my only defeat," Zoro replied, looking down at Wado Ichimonji. "But it would be a good reminder to keep on training." Not that he was going to wear the damn thing...
"So be it. Farewell, Roronoa Zoro. I will watch your future progress - and the progress of your crew - with much pleasure."
"Thank you," Zoro said sincerely. "For taking care of the crew. And for keeping your promise."
"Promise?" Mihawk quirked an eyebrow.
"To wait for me, in your strongest form."
"Indeed," Mihawk said, recalling another swordsman who had had the nerve to get his arm eaten in the most peaceful of all the Blues before they had been able to settle the issue of just who was the better of the two. "It was a good fight, Roronoa Zoro."
"Yeah. We really busted up that island, huh?"
"A fact over which your navigator has communicated her abundant displeasure," Mihawk said dryly, and Zoro chuckled. It felt weird to be talking casually with a man whose back he had chased for so many years, but then again, it was confirmation that he had truly arrived at the pinnacle of swordsmanship - and he was determined to push that pinnacle higher.
They clasped hands, and Zoro watched as Mihawk leapt gracefully onto the deck below to bid goodbye to the rest of the crew. When Mihawk had left, he turned back to his weights.
"Whaddaya mean, 'primitive'?" he muttered with a smile, and picked them up once more.
"3196...3197...3198..."
.....
Okay, the ending was pretty fail. And I wanted to include Dragon and explain how Kuma fitted into the picture but didn't have the time. Ah well, I'll probably write an expanded version later and link to it from here. Deal?
Theme: Set #3 - Brother
Claim: Zoro
Words: 3815
Rating: PG
Warnings: Post-current-canon fic. Swearing. Third of an arc beginning with " Promised Farewell". Includes references to the Old Nemesis arc and the Adventures of Young Roronoa Zoro arc. And, I descended into a spot of Rurouni Kenshin-inspired crack in the end.
Disclaimers: I don't own One Piece.
When Zoro awoke after the battle, it was to a familiar room and a familiar bed. "Great," he murmured, trying to move his hand up to nurse his aching head. His hand stopped a few inches away from the rail that ran around the edge of the bed and refused to move any further. "What the hell..."
He swivelled his head to look towards his right, and discovered the reason. Apparently the crew had finally found a use for Silvertongue's handcuffs.
He sat up slowly, and looked around. Once upon a time, he would have found the crew gathered around his bed, waiting eagerly for him to wake up, but now the infirmary was empty and silent. And judging from the "hospitality" they were showing him - he pulled at the handcuffs again, wondering whether to just rip the rail off the bed - he wasn't even at the level of a guest anymore.
At least he'd been wrong about those bandages after the fight with Mihawk being the last ones Chopper would ever put on him. Of course, these could be the work of another doctor, but from the way the almost punishingly excessive amounts wound around his body, he was pretty sure they belonged to the little reindeer.
Then again, Chopper would treat anyone who needed a doctor. It wasn't out of consideration for him, personally. And the fact that he wasn't even here for his waking up told Zoro one thing.
He fell back in bed and released a long sigh. This was going to be awkward.
As it turned out, the first people he saw weren't members of the crew at all. He glared apprehensively at the pair as they came in. "What are you two doing on board a pirate ship?" he asked.
"We wouldn't have to be on this ship if it wasn't for you, Roronoa," Smoker rapped out at him.
"What did I do?"
Smoker scowled at him from around his two cigars. "You really don't remember, do you, Roronoa?" He jerked his head towards Tashigi. Zoro had been studiously avoiding meeting her gaze, but he forced himself to, telling him that now that he was no longer beholden to Kuina's memory, he shouldn't be afraid of her face anymore.
It was still weird, though. He let his eyes stray downwards.
"My katana!"
"I've been taking care of them for you," Tashigi said, setting them down by the side of his bed. "Especially making sure that Sandai Kitetsu doesn't slaughter anyone."
"Thanks," Zoro muttered grudgingly. "But I thought your aim was to take every named katana out of the hands of people who would use them for their own selfish ends."
"It still is," she said solemnly. "And what I told you before was true. Your katana were crying."
"They were?" Zoro shot a glance over at his swords. "Then why...?"
"They were crying for you," Tashigi explained. "And, I realised that you weren't a selfish person."
"Um, thanks. But I still don't get what two Marines are doing on this ship."
"So you really were delirious. Tch," Smoker said disgustedly. He went on to recount what Zoro had said to Tashigi, when he had thought she was Kuina, and what it had meant for the two Marines. Zoro turned a deep shade of crimson.
"You mean I told you that?" he groaned. He had never confided those thoughts to anyone. Not even the crew. Not even Sensei!
"Your embarrassment isn't the issue here! We'll probably lose our careers, once the top brass discover that we helped you and your crew escape in the middle of the battle!"
"Oh yeah. Sorry 'bout that," Zoro shrugged. "But why did you do it?"
"There comes a time when you have to decide whether your justice and your organisation's justice are one and the same thing," Smoker said. "I couldn't say that was true."
Zoro nodded in understanding. He had always counted himself lucky that his captain's ideas about what was right and wrong had always coincided with his. Then he winced, remembering that Luffy was no longer his captain.
Smoker noticed the wince, and guessed where it stemmed from. He stood up to go. "We only came to return those," he said, nodding at the katana. "We'll say good riddance here."
Zoro had to smile. "Bye, 'Smokey'."
Before Tashigi could follow him, Zoro called out to her. "Tashigi, wait!" She turned and gave him an inquiring look. "Listen, I'm, er, sorry about mistaking you for Kuina."
"That's okay. We must look really similar."
"Yeah, it's kinda spooky," Zoro admitted. He looked at the green katana strapped to Tashigi's waist. "You know, it's true. She really did beat me all the time, you know. No reason in the world girls can't be world's greatest swordsman, no matter what people say."
"Are you challenging me to a match? I may have less arm strength than a man, but I still wouldn't fight a man who's injured and half-dead," she said with a smile. "It wouldn't be honourable."
"Not now," Zoro agreed, "but someday."
Tashigi nodded solemnly. "I'll look forward to it." She shot him a parting smile, and left.
Zoro waited for a while for someone else to come in, before he got too impatient and used Wado Ichimonji to slice off the handcuffs. He got up slowly, grimacing at the pain that shot through his body, especially his torn back muscles, and made his way outside, and the pain was replaced with a rush of relief.
They were all there. None of them had been hurt, or killed, rescuing him.
But none of them were paying him any attention, either, until Chopper looked up from his herbs and gasped. "Ahhhhhhhhhh! Zoro! What are doing..." Then Chopper seemed to recollect something, and he clapped his hooves over his mouth. He looked down at his herbs again, but Zoro could see a lone tear make its way down the reindeer's face.
Damn. He'd made Chopper cry.
He couldn't blame them for the silent treatment. Fair was fair, after what he'd made them do to Usopp back at Water 7. He was even a bit proud that they'd remembered. But yes, this was awkward.
He sighed, and sat himself down in the middle of the deck.
"Listen, you guys." He could see every ear pricking up, although they still studiously avoided looking around at him. "I'm not going to apologise for leaving. It was something I had to do."
A collective sigh ran around the deck. Zoro frowned. He was not good at apologising.
"And you guys really shouldn't have come after me. You were so close to the end of the Grand Line - so close to your dreams. But I guess I shouldn't have trusted the shit cook to deliver such an important message."
He watched as the veins on Sanji's neck and forehead swelled with indignation. He could tell from the twitching of the cook's leg muscles that they was just itching to make contact with his head.
"But you came to get me anyway. So, I owe you my life. You can do whatever you want with me, take me along, beat me up, throw me overboard, whatever." He scratched his head awkwardly. "Though I doubt that you'd want to take me along, seeing as I hurt you guys. A lot. And I'm sorry for that. Although, that doesn't mean I wouldn't do the same thing over again. But yeah, I'm sorry if I made you guys cry or anything."
There was a brief silence, then Sanji addressed Luffy. "Oi, Captain. Is that enough of an apology so we can start beating him up, now?"
Luffy gave the gesture to go ahead, and immediately the others leapt to their feet, towering over Zoro.
"What kind of half-assed apology was that, Zoro? 'Sorry, but I wouldn't have done anything differently'?" Usopp scolded.
"Well, it's true," Zoro said defensively. Next thing he knew, he was being slapped in the face. "Ow! Nami?"
"Did you really think you could get away without paying up the rest of your debt, Zoro?"
"But you said before that I could pay back my debt by...ow!" She'd slapped him again.
"It really was most inconsiderate of you, Swordsman-san." Zoro felt various hands sprout all over his body. "If you had told us, we would have made arrangements for you to satisfy your part of the bargain, as well as arrangements to get rescued."
"Yeah, well, I didn't really expect the rescue part - ow!" Zoro protested as various parts of his body went crunch in a most alarming and painful way.
"We were supposed to go all the way to the end of the Grand Line together, bro! And you abandoned us! That was not super!" Franky sobbed. Then he abruptly stopped crying and asked, "Ow, Chopper-bro, where are we allowed to hit him?"
"Anywhere he isn't bandaged up," Chopper said.
Franky surveyed Zoro's bandaged body. "That leaves only his head."
"Yeah, well, there's nothing valuable in there anyway," Chopper replied grimly. He transformed to Heavy Point. Not a good sign.
"What! Chopper? What kind of doctor...ow!" Zoro reeled as Franky's steel fist came into contact with the right side of his head, and then Chopper's with his left.
"Allow me to add mine to the mix!" Brook contributed his own extremely bony effort to the top of Zoro's head.
"Eat this, Zoro!" Usopp topped everything off by firing a Tabasco Boshi at Zoro's eyes.
"Gah! What the hell?" Zoro tried to rub away the stinging sensation, only to find that it just made things worse by spreading the sauce around. He looked up through watering eyes, to see Sanji looming before him, leg poised to strike.
"So I don't deliver messages properly, huh, Zoro?" Sanji's voice was laced with menace. "How would you have liked to have deliver that one, huh? 'Sorry, Captain, one of your crew just skipped out on you.' Do you have any idea what it was like to have to tell him about Thriller Bark?" His leg came crashing down on Zoro's head, in a much more painful strike than anyone else's had been. "Do you have any idea what it was like to see his reaction to that? Don't you know what you fucking mean to him?" Each question mark turned into a vicious kick.
"Ow...ow...ow...okay! Okay! I'm sorry! Geez!"
"Not fucking sorry enough!" Sanji brought up his leg once more.
"That's enough, Sanji." Zoro looked up and saw Luffy, and gave an inward groan. Sanji's kicks were preferable to anything Luffy might do - or say - to him.
"Zoro." Luffy's voice was dead serious, and Zoro swallowed, a tad nervously. "Is it true? Back in Thriller Bark? You really offered your life in exchange for mine?"
I wasn't the only one! Zoro wanted to say, but he could only nod dumbly.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Luffy roared, and slammed Zoro into the wood of the deck.
"I..." Zoro was at a loss for words. What did he do it for? He hadn't even had to think. It wasn't even a conscious decision. "It was just something I had to do," he muttered.
"Perhaps I might be able to help to explain Swordsman-san's reasoning, since he appears unable to articulate it for himself," Robin said. "I believe that over the course of your journey together, Swordsman-san became gradually more and more emotionally invested in the crew. He began to regard you all - us all - as a family. In particular, he regarded you as a little brother. And, very much like your brother Ace, he couldn't bear to see you die before his eyes. So he volunteered himself in your place. Am I correct, Swordsman-san?"
Well, if she put it that way... "I guess," Zoro admitted.
Luffy stared at him blankly for a few moments, then raised his voice. "You're NOT my brother!"
Zoro winced a little, remembering the day he'd met Luffy again on Amazon Lily after all that time apart, when they'd agreed they were family. They were brothers. He'd thought he could come to terms with no longer being a member of the crew, but still, that stung.
"I don't want the crew to be my brothers and sisters if that means you're going to die protecting me! I'll protect myself! I don't want Zoro to be my brother if that means you think it's okay to die on my behalf! It's not okay! I don't want that!"
"Luffy..." Zoro began, but Luffy interrupted.
"I don't want a brother. I don't need a brother."
"Okay, Luffy," Zoro said heavily. "I get the picture." He rose on his haunches, but Luffy pushed him back down.
"What I need right now, what I want, is a first mate."
"A first mate?"
"I don't want someone to look after me. I want someone to look after the crew. And I want that someone to be you."
Zoro gaped at Luffy. "Are you sure? After what I did?"
"Yup. Because I decided that I don't want to be Pirate King anymore."
"WHAT?" Zoro got to his feet, and grabbed Luffy by the shoulder. "What did you just say?"
"I don't wanna be Pirate King anymore," Luffy repeated. Then he grinned. "Unless - Zoro's there to see it happen."
"I've changed my dream too," Nami announced. "I'm going to sail the Blues and make a world map - with Zoro by my side."
"I'm gonna become a brave warrior of the seas, and I want Zoro to be there to see it," Usopp grinned.
"You're damn annoying, shitty marimo, but...if I find All Blue and you're not around, it wouldn't be the same," Sanji said.
"And I'm going to become a great doctor who can cure anyone no matter how injured or sick they are, and since Zoro's the person I practise on the most, it wouldn't be fair if he weren't there to see it!" Chopper said.
"Oi," Zoro growled, but it was getting hard to conceal the welling emotion now.
"Swordsman-san and I have similar grudges against the World Government. I think you'd be just as interested as I am to see what the True History has to tell us."
Zoro nodded. He had to admit, he was curious about that.
"And I wanted to sail around the world with you guys on the Thousand Sunny. It wouldn't be super if one of us was missing."
"And I'm sure Laboon is waiting for you just as he's waiting for all of us, Zoro-san," Brook said solemnly. "Yohohoho!"
Zoro clenched his fists. "Are you sure about this?" After all he'd done, he felt like he was getting off awfully easy. Reinstated to the crew. First Mate. Back where he belonged, at Luffy's side, without any old promises looming over his head.
"Yup! We're sure," Luffy grinned.
"Everyone's okay with this?"
"We might beat you up some more, but yeah, we're okay with it," Sanji said.
"Okay. I'll be your First Mate, Luffy."
"Yahoo!" Luffy snagged Zoro in a hug, from which Zoro extricated himself with difficulty.
"Looks like I'm going to need a new dream as well, huh?"
"Oh yeah! You can't be a Strawhat without a dream! What's it gonna be, Zoro?" Luffy asked excitedly.
"My new dream...my new dream is to see all you guys accomplish your dreams," Zoro decided. And do whatever he could to help them there.
"And - " Luffy waggled a finger at him sternly - "you're not allowed to offer your life for any of ours, anymore. You're not allowed to die."
"Or the entire value of One Piece will be added to your debt!" Nami added.
"That's right! And, it's captain's orders! Got it, Zoro?"
Zoro sighed. "Yeah, I got it. Captain."
Everyone grinned and gave Zoro a round of hugs - until Chopper spotted the incriminating evidence. "ZORO! Why are you crossing your fingers?!"
"3193...3194...3195..." Zoro trailed off in the midst of his exercises when he heard a sound behind him. He looked around to see the familiar figure of Mihawk. He set down the weight and wiped off his sweat with the towel slung around his neck. "What are you doing here?"
"Your crew asked me to replace you as swordsman for a short while, while you were missing. They also needed my Eternal Pose to Marineford in order to bring you back."
"So...you heard everything," Zoro said, alluding to the emotional conversation the crew had had earlier.
"I did. It was most interesting."
Zoro sighed. "So? Are you here to lecture me too?"
The former shichibukai gave a faint smirk. "Yes."
Zoro made a face, and gestured for Mihawk to make himself comfortable on the bench that ran around the perimeter of the crow's nest.
"Two-tonne weights," Mihawk observed. "How primitive."
Once upon a time Zoro's temper may have flared at the slight, but now he simply took it in stride and asked, "Why, how do you train?"
Mihawk gave a dismissive gesture. "I would not presume to tell the world's greatest swordsman how to train." Zoro couldn't resist a grin. "Assuming, of course, you are the world's greatest swordsman." The grin rapidly disappeared.
"What do you mean by that?" Zoro demanded.
"Well, think about it. For years, I have stood unrivalled as world's greatest swordsman, with only fools such as yourself who dared to challenge me."
"So?" Zoro frowned.
"Now that you have successfully challenged me, there will be others who will be keen to test themselves against you."
"Good luck to them," Zoro growled competitively.
"Indeed. But there are others who care little to nothing about the title, who have not stepped forward, and probably never will."
"So? I can't go around the world challenging every swordsman in the world to a duel," Zoro objected. It might be fun, but he had other responsibilities now.
"No, but before you can declare yourself the world's greatest swordsman, you should think about other swordsmen you have known and never beaten."
Zoro frowned and thought hard. As far as he could remember, there was only one person he had ever lost a duel to besides Mihawk, and she was dead.
"I'd be surprised if you had no such person in your life," Mihawk went on.
"Wait - yeah," Zoro realised. "Yes, there is someone." It was odd, but he'd never really thought about him as an opponent.
"Until you've beaten that person, the world may call you world's greatest swordsman, but in your heart, I think you'll know that's not true."
Zoro nodded solemnly. "Yeah. I guess you're right."
"Of course I'm right." Mihawk stood up. "Now, for the last of what I'm supposed to impart to you, before I go. Of course, we were supposed to do this weeks ago."
"Huh?" Zoro had never thought there would be some sort of official handing-over ceremony for world's greatest swordsmen.
"Here." Mihawk whisked off his cape with a flourish, and handed it over to Zoro. "This was given to me by the man I beat to become world's greatest swordsman. It is now yours."
Zoro gawked at the gaudy cloak. "I'm supposed to wear that?"
"Indeed. Don't you want it?"
"NO!" Zoro could only think of the hysterical laughter Sanji and the rest of the crew would burst into if they saw him wearing a thing like that.
"Perhaps the hat, then," Mihawk offered.
Zoro eyed the plume perking itself proudly beyond the crown of the hat. "I...don't think that's really my style."
"Tradition dictates that I hand something over to you, in acknowledgment of your having defeated me. If not the cloak or the hat, then I suppose it must be Kokutou Yoru." He unbuckled the giant black sword from his back, and held it out to Zoro.
"I wouldn't ask you to give up your katana," Zoro said, putting a hand on his own. He could feel their consternation at one of them - or all of them - having to make way for a new sword. They relaxed again at his reassuring touch. Not that that gigantic sword would fit his fighting style, anyway. "If you have to give me something, then I want that." He nodded at the dagger that hung around Mihawk's neck.
"This? Do you really want to carry around a permanent reminder of your only defeat?" Mihawk took it out from around his neck and tossed it over to Zoro, who caught it deftly.
"Not my only defeat," Zoro replied, looking down at Wado Ichimonji. "But it would be a good reminder to keep on training." Not that he was going to wear the damn thing...
"So be it. Farewell, Roronoa Zoro. I will watch your future progress - and the progress of your crew - with much pleasure."
"Thank you," Zoro said sincerely. "For taking care of the crew. And for keeping your promise."
"Promise?" Mihawk quirked an eyebrow.
"To wait for me, in your strongest form."
"Indeed," Mihawk said, recalling another swordsman who had had the nerve to get his arm eaten in the most peaceful of all the Blues before they had been able to settle the issue of just who was the better of the two. "It was a good fight, Roronoa Zoro."
"Yeah. We really busted up that island, huh?"
"A fact over which your navigator has communicated her abundant displeasure," Mihawk said dryly, and Zoro chuckled. It felt weird to be talking casually with a man whose back he had chased for so many years, but then again, it was confirmation that he had truly arrived at the pinnacle of swordsmanship - and he was determined to push that pinnacle higher.
They clasped hands, and Zoro watched as Mihawk leapt gracefully onto the deck below to bid goodbye to the rest of the crew. When Mihawk had left, he turned back to his weights.
"Whaddaya mean, 'primitive'?" he muttered with a smile, and picked them up once more.
"3196...3197...3198..."
.....
Okay, the ending was pretty fail. And I wanted to include Dragon and explain how Kuma fitted into the picture but didn't have the time. Ah well, I'll probably write an expanded version later and link to it from here. Deal?