Hello!
I really didn´t want to start another story before I complete the ones I´m still writing but this idea is torturing me inside my head. I have to write it down and I have to publish it. I hope you like it.
Brand New Ending
"Have you ever thought a brave, adventurous and independent pirate could give up everything for a family and still be happy? Well, maybe I was wrong"
Chapter 01
The sun was high in the sky announcing noon. Classes had been over for a while so quietness took over the place. One teacher remained sweeping the steps at the entrance of the traditional construction and a little girl, of around 5 years old, sat on a bench close to her. She had short green hair that peeked behind a huge book she was writing on, it was almost the same size as her body, her short legs swung up and down the bench.
She seemed to be in deep concentration as the teacher had to call her a couple of times to get her attention.
"Kuina!"The teacher called for a 3rd time. "Your daddy is here"
The tiny girl jumped off her seat closing the book in the split of a second. In front of the teacher was a tall man wearing black boots, pants and green haramaki with a matching color yukata on top of all of it, It was draped over his right shoulder. The part of his torso that was naked reveled he was extremely muscular, as well as, he had a huge scar. It appeared over his left hip and crossed his chest until it hid under the yukata. His face expressed not much emotion, his right eye looked lazily at the little girl and the other, the one that was divided by a scar, was closed. He had short brushed back hair, the same color as the little girl´s.
As the petite kid smiled and ran towards him, the stoic man's face transformed into a huge and bright smile.. The teacher had to look away to hide her blush. You couldn´t blame her, the picture was way to cute: the little girl only reached his knee; she crushed her book against her chest and stared at him with deep love and admiration. Most of the children cried or felt abandoned when their parents came late to get them, but this little one was familiar with that.
Every time was the same: The big man came late with an almost imperceptible "I´m-sorry" look, she had learnt to recognize it after witnessing them too many times. As soon as the small girl smiled at him, assuring him that it was ok, he gave her this amazing smile that was as moving for the little child as well to any spectator.
She put the book on her back pack. He extended his hand and the girl quickly held it. "Bye Sakura-sensei" She said, the green haired man nodded at her and they left the school and walked towards the woods.
"Nee, daddy you got lost?" She whispered softly.
"Of course not" He snorted.
She didn´t believe him "Did you forget the song?"
He chuckled "No"
"Do you want me to remind it to you" She looked at him and smiled.
He tried to hide his grin and turned serious "I know how to get to your school"
She stopped " Hold up your hands " and started singing
When he felt his arm tense, product of the little girl who wasn´t moving, he turned around and sighed.
" And reach your fingers to the sky " she continued and did what the lyrics said.
He looked at her but she wasn´t planning on walking again " Point your thumbs in "
He sighed again and stood in front of the tiny green haired girl " Do you wanna know why? " he mumbled and copied her movements, without doing the dancing.
She grinned at the second he started mimicking her " Because… " she looked at him expecting him to complete the sentence.
He looked right then left just to check if they were alone and said softly " Well the hand that makes an L " he looked at his hand " It´s the L…left one" he sang softly.
"Yeah!" Cheered the little girl " The other is the right "
He grinned proud.
" Stretch your arms to your sides. As far as they can go. " she stretched her arms and sang happily.
He did the same and allowed his tone to be a little higher and merrier, just a little " Look at your left hand, And you will know, That this way is left " he shook his head left.
" And the other way is right, You are learning your directions, And that is outta sight! " She finished singing cheerfully and ran to hug her daddy while he was standing like in a cross.
He put his hands behind her arms and lifted her to hug her against his chest. She quickly ran her little arms around his neck.
"I knew you ´d remember daddy"
"Of course, you taught me" He kissed the top of her head.
"Daddy, would you carry me home. I´m tired" She pouted.
"You can´t be tired! You are young!" he said.
"…and hungry!" she said that so it would affect him because when he was late, he delayed her lunch.
He sighed. "Ok, but this is the last time!" He said that every time.
The little girl climbed onto his shoulders and sat. Her short arms wrapped around his forehead.
He started walking. "Here". He handed her a tangerine. "I thought you would be hungry".
"Great!" She cheered and started peeling it.
They continued walking in silence while the girl ate the fruit.
"Let´s turn right here so we could see the big rock" She asked him.
He chuckled. She knew the way better than him and she recognized that her daddy´s directional problem was a sensitive issue for him.
He turned left "Did you do your homework already?" He asked.
"Yesh" she munched.
He held her feet as they walked, she was so tiny yet she had grown so much, It was amazing. The feeling wasn´t new for him, he was starting to get used to be surprised by his little daughter. She grew so fast: The height marks on her door were starting to look like a ruler,She was extremely smart - she had learnt the whole alphabet in a day; a hell of a swordfighter for her age: She could handle the basics with both hands - and he could go on and on, every day was thrilling when he was with her. He felt stupid when he analyzed it but he loved to be with her and watch her grow. It was an amazing experience, in the end she was something so tiny and fragile he helped create and now was turning into a real person. A strong, intelligent and beautiful person, he couldn´t be any prouder. "Was it difficult?"
"No" she said in a cocky tone.
He chuckled "What was it?"
"I had to draw a picture of 3 things we use in school and write the words" she told him.
"Oh! So you drew a sword" he said.
She exploded in laughs "No daddy! We don´t use swords in school"
"Really? Then, did you draw a pillow?" he continued with his incoherent objects propositions, he just wanted to make her laugh.
She laughed again "No! You use that in the bed! We don´t sleep at school"
"No way! How about soap?" he said smiling.
"No! That´s for the bathroom" She giggled.
They walked liked that for minutes; she laughing and giggling and him smiling from ear to ear.
"Look! A pink flower if we turn right!" she commented.
He followed her directions and saw their house on the horizon. "Then what did you draw?"
"I drew a pencil" she answered his question.
"And you wrote the word too?" He said in a surprised tone.
"Yes: a P, an E then… the N, C…. I and the L" she finished.
"Very good! And what else?"
"I drew a book: B, two Os and the one you have to draw: first a straight line from up to down, then from the center a line up and then from the center again another line down… a K" she moved her hand in the air as if she was writing it.
"Mmm… K, I can´t remember anything that starts with a K"
She thought about it for a few seconds "I know!" She raised her arm.
"What?"
"Keys, starts with a K" she said.
"Right! Very good! And what was the last thing you drew?" She was so smart. He hadn´t much experience with other kids, actually he had none other experience but he was convinced that this one was a genius.
"I wrote the word but I haven´t finish the drawing yet; a brush" she told him.
"Those are very difficult things to draw; I want to see them later"
She nodded "I'll show them to you later, I have to finish coloring them, too"
They were a few feet away from their house. It was a little cottage in the middle of the woods next to a lake.
He placed her on the grass "You should finish it while I make lunch"
"Ok" she said and they entered the house.
The room was a living room which had stairs at the back that connected to the second floor and next to it another door that leaded to the kitchen. The little girl ran towards the door and he joined her a couple of seconds later.
The kitchen had a table in the middle; Kuina placed her school utensils to finish her homework.
"What do you want to eat?" he asked her.
"Ice cream" She said in a serious tone, not changing her view from her drawing.
He chuckled "You are not going to grow tall and strong if you eat that"
"Uncle Luffy eats that all the time and he is really strong" she looked at him as she painted with her red crayon.
"Well… but… he is special" He scratched the back of his head.
"You say I´m special all the time" Another extremely intelligent fact about Kuina, she had a really good memory and was tough to beat in any discussion.
He sat next to her and petted her head "Yeah but you are special good and he is special weird"
She sighed, she didn´t get it too much but she knew it meant no ice cream for lunch "Ok. Fish?"
He rubbed his chin "How about… A tuna sandwich!"
She smiled "Yeah!"
He grinned and moved to the fridge. "Those drawings are good Kuina"
She smiled at him showing him almost all her teeth.
He grabbed bread, mayonnaise, tuna and tomato to prepare the sandwich. The swordsman quietly fixed their lunch while the little girl finished her homework, the two of them in complete silence.
After a couple of minutes Zoro arrived at the table with a dish full of sandwiches and a jar of juice.
"You havesh shto eatsh tshe wholsh shandwish" He munched.
"You shouldn´t talk with your mouth full" she scolded him.
He gulped.
The girl took tiny bites of the sandwich but ate it. Meanwhile Zoro was already eating his third.
"Daddy, would you teach me how to do a handstand later, when we train?" she asked him.
"Yes" he nodded
They finished their lunch mostly in silence. When the little girl had finished the sandwich, she jumped off her seat and started to pack her school things.
"Sit down, you have to digest your food" He grabbed the last sandwich.
"I did it already! I want to water the flowers!" She ran away to her room.
He sighed. In the end she did whatever she wanted, he was lucky she was a good girl. "BRUSH YOUR TEETH!" He finished the last sandwich and gathered the plates to do the dishes.
A few minutes later the girl came running down the stairs and opened the door of the kitchen that leaded to the back yard.
Zoro sighed again while cleaning, but the smile in his face was showing again when he spotted the petit girl filling the watering can. It was half her size, but she filled it to the top and dragged it slowly towards where her flowers were.
He finished the dishes and moved outside with her. He sat under a tree in front of her and polished his swords.
At first the girl pushed the watering can to water some flowers until it was empty enough so she could lift it.
"Daddy, what´s the name of this flower?" She asked him
"Mmm… Yellow one". He made it up, he didn´t know a thing about flowers.
She nodded "And this one?" She pointed to a protea
He looked at the flower, and said seriously: "Pink Artichoke".
"Oh, and this one?" It was a sweet William.
"Flower Afro"
The girl nodded one last time and continued watering the plants. After a few minutes she turned around and found Zoro sleeping against the tree with his hands behind his back.
She stretched her arms and yawned. She walked towards him until she could sit between his legs, rested her back on his chest and proceeded to nap with her father.
One hour later Zoro woke up. Kuina was deeply asleep on his chest and using his yukata as a blanket. He caressed her head.
"Kuina" He called her softly.
"Mmnmm" She mumbled.
"Nap is over, we have to train" he said.
"mmmjust one minutemmm" She murmured
"I´m gonna stretch" He did it and Kuina´s human bed moved waking up the girl.
"Noo" She complained.
He stood up and so did the drowsy girl.
He looked at his yukata "You drooled all over my clothes!" he pointed at her.
She cleaned her face "No way! That was already there" she pointed back at him.
"Yeah sure" he raised his eyebrows.
"I´ll go get my boken" she ran away.
He sighed again. A minute later she was back with him, holding the wooden sword and wearing her white dogi.
"We´ll run around the lake for 15 minutes and then come back" He said and the two marched next to the big lake that was behind their house in the middle of the woods.
After that they jumped the rope for several minutes. Then he tried to teach her how to do a hand stand, she couldn´t quite master the technique but she was close. Finally they moved to the sword fighting practice. He made her perform different thrusts and strikes and repeated them several times with each hand.
After almost half an hour of practising with the sword he thought it was enough. She was always willing to train with him but when something was difficult she got easily frustrated, it was a thin line because when it was too easy she stopped paying attention and got bored.
"Very good Kuina, that´s all for today" He said serious.
"Ok!" She cheered "Can I go prepare the bath?"
"Ok" He nodded.
The girl ran to the upper floor of their house. There were 2 bedrooms with two bathrooms: one was inside the main room and the other was next to the stairs. The girl filled the tub of the one inside the room.
A few minutes later Zoro joined her at the bathroom. "Are you sure you don´t want my help?" He asked.
The kid threw her clothes on the floor anxious to get inside the bathtub "No, I´m a big girl!"
"I know… I know" He picked up her clothes and threw them inside the laundry bin.
"Not with your hair, anything?" He asked again.
She shook her head "I have a plan" she got inside the water.
"Oh really?" He asked curious.
"Yes. First I´ll wash my body then shampoo my hair, after that I´ll pull the stopper out, turn the shower and rinse my hair while doing this" she put her hands over her eyes and looked up "Then I´ll move away the shower again, put the conditioner, get under the water and rinse my hair one last time"
He crossed his arms over his chest "I don´t know… what if you fall? It´s slippery"
"I put the froggies" She pointed at the rubber mat that was shaped as a frog inside the tub.
He sighed "Ok, but leave the door open, I´ll be around. Also, call me when you are clean I´m taking you out of the tub"
"Ok!" She nodded smiling.
Zoro sat on his bed next to the bathroom door but somewhere where she couldn´t see him and waited for her to finish.
Fifteen minutes later she was done so she called him.
"Very good!" He said looking at her all clean and perfumed. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her, lifted her up and carried her to her room.
"Get dressed, I´ll go heat up dinner " He rubbed her shoulders
She nodded.
"And dry your hair!" He yelled as he descended the stairs.
A few minutes later he had finished heating the meal and she arrived at the kitchen wearing her bunny patterned pajamas. She sat at the table.
"Five minutes" He told her.
"Ok" She said softly, her voice showed her exhaustion after the long day.
He put the dishes on the table and poured some juice on their glasses.
Suddenly a thunder stroke and Kuina yelled scared.
"Don´t be afraid, ot´s only lightning, It announces it´s going to rain." He took the food out of the oven and served it on the plates.
"REALLY?" She asked surprised but was answered by the sound of drops crushing on the roof. "WOW" she looked at him amazed.
He cut her meat into pieces.
"I hope we can see a rainbow again after this rain" She thought about it for a second "But if the rain ends at night, we wouldn´t be able to because you need the sun to get a rainbow".
"How do you know that?" He asked intrigued.
"I asked my teacher" She answered and took a bite of her meal.
He nodded surprised and started eating his food.
"Did you know that clouds are tiny water droplets? So tiny they float" she explained to him.
"Really? I think I heard that before" He mumbled. "You like that sky stuff, right?" He asked her.
"Yes and stars too" She answered quickly "A boy at school cuts his own food" while examining the meat pieces.
"Really?" He was surprised, he didn´t want to give her a knife yet but maybe he was being overly protective.
"Aha, with a plastic knife" she finished eating her food.
He rubbed his chin "Then we should buy you a plastic knife tomorrow so you can start practicing"
"Great!" She smiled.
He smiled brightly at her. He finished his plate "Pick up the dishes. I´ll clean, you dry!"
The two of them moved to do their duties, a couple of minutes later they were finished.
"Let´s go to bed" He said and they went upstairs.
They arrived at her bedroom, she got in her bed and he tucked her in.
"Nee daddy, If tomorrow we go to the village to get the knife, can we have some ice cream?" she asked and yawned.
"Ok" he sat next to her on the bed.
"And would you buy me a toy?" She added closing her eyes.
"We´ll see" He grinned. He was lucky they lived in the woods because that girl had a killer instinct for shopping.
"I want a book that has drawings and you can color them" Her voice faded out as she was dropping into slumber.
"Ok we´ll talk about that tomorrow" He kissed her forehead.
"I love you daddy" She mumbled.
"I love you too, sweet dreams" He closed the door of her bedroom and turned off the light.
He found himself smiling again. He sighed. The rain had turned into a storm and he decided to get a shower. Now that Kuina was asleep he had time for himself. He usually spend it bathing or doing something for the house, if not he went directly to bed. At the end, the best part of the day was when he spent it with her.
He finished his shower and put on his pajamas. They were some green silk elastic waist shorts with a matching short sleeve button-front shirt that Kuina had picked for his birthday. She drew a cute frog in the front pocket and the word Zoro.
He was about to get in the bed when he heard something. A heavy storm was going on outside, so he didn´t investigate more. Still it sounded again, so he got down the stairs and recognized it: Someone was knocking on the door.
He opened the door, wondering who could it be in this storm at this late hour, but what he found out shocked him beyond imagination.
In front of his door; soaking wet, shivering , exhausted and injured was none other than the former Mugiwara navigator: Nami
"NAMI" He breathed out.
The girl looked at him and collapsed unconscious against him.
TBC
Well I hope you like it so far! I couldn´t stop thinking about Zoro being a single father so I made up this story I hope you´ll find it entertaining. Please review it I´d like to read your opinions.
Special Thanks To BlueLion my new betareader!