DISCLAIMER: All characters within this story are not mine. I am using them without permission.

A/N: This is my first story posted here and it's a bit sloppy. Let me know about any drastic problems and I'll fix them. Thanks in advance. I'll soon be adding a bit in my profile about my inspiration for this story.

Eight Years Ago

Several men were eating together at a large wooden table in the mess of a large wooden ship. Their rather uncivilized eating habits were interrupted by a jovial voice shouting from a newly opened door, "Hey captain! Look what we found sneaking around in the cargo hold!" He was carrying in his tight grip a little girl, probably about ten years old.

"Oh? What have we here? A stowaway?" The captain walks over to the girl, looking into her eyes. Before she could give an answer, someone else plowed through the door.

"Captain! We just found a dinghy tied to the side of the ship!"

The captain turned back to the girl, "Ah! I see now. Not a stowaway. A theif! Impressive that you managed to even get on board. Have anything to say for yourself, girl?"

Unlike what one would expect, the girl was not stricken with terror, but rather furious with anger. "I don't have anything to say to you, pirate scum! Do what you want to me, but I won't bow down to evil people like you!" Then she proceeded to spit on his face.

The captain looked shocked for a moment, before breaking into a large grin as he wiped his face clean, "Ya hear that boys, I'm evil!" At this everyone in the room broke into a loud round of laughter.

The girl just seemed to grow more angry, finally, when it appeared she could get no angrier, she yelled, "Shut up!" And they did. In fact a couple of the more drunk ones even fell unconscious. The captain turned his smile back to the girl.

"How interesting. I've never seen someone as young as you use an ability like that. You haven't eaten a devil's fruit or something like that have you? You can still swim?" He motioned for her captor to let go of her.

"Of course I can swim! What kind of idiot would go to sea without being able to swim!" She took up a basic fighting stance.

The man laughed, "I see. Why don't you sit down with us and tell us your story. If you are desperate enough to do something like that on instinct alone, there must be a desperate story to go along with it. Feel free to have some food, eating is much more enjoyable than fighting, after all. If the story is any good, I might just let you steal a couple things when you leave. "

The girl relaxed slightly as she warily eyed the room, "Okay… what's your name?"

"My name? You slip aboard my ship without knowing my name? How daring! Stupid too. But, if you really want to know, my name is Shanks."

Present Time

Zoro sighed as the sun set. The ropes restraining him were rather uncomfortable. He considered slipping out of them and putting them back on in the morning before the incompetent marines checked on him, but he really didn't want to be declared an outlaw by the marines. A bounty would make everything more troublesome, how could he collect on other people's bounties if he had one himself? Staying was the only option, a month stuck here was no big deal, he could finish his time and then be on his way.

A few days with no exercise was making him rather antsy. He was coping alright without the food, but some water would have been nice. Normally he wasn't one for thinking much, but since sleep wasn't coming easy that's all he had to do at the moment. Thinking about his life. Thinking about his goals. Thinking about where he's supposed to go from here.

After several hours deep in thought about what he would do when this month was over, his internal monologue was interrupted as he noticed someone sitting on the wall directly in front of him. It was a girl just sitting there, grinning at him. It was a very annoying grin, as if she was rubbing his miserable situation in his face. She hopped off the wall and started towards him, her footsteps not making a sound. Her clothing and her movements clearly identified her as a someone trained in stealth. Probably in fighting too. A few wisps of bright orange hair peaking out from under the black bandanna she was wearing was the only thing that made her stand out at all. Oh, and that stupid smile.

That smile really pissed him off, "You know, girl, this probably isn't the safest place for you to be."

She giggled at that, further annoying him, "No need to worry about me Mr. 'Pirate Hunter.' I can take care of myself. Although, it looks like you might be in need of a bit of help."

He grunted at her, "I can get out of here anytime I want, just go away if you don't want to die."

Her smil continued to make him angry, "Oh, I have no doubt of that, though you lack anyway to resolve this situation without either becoming a wanted man, or slaughtering the whole marine base. The first option would be very annoying, and the second is doomed to failure as surely someone would notice what happened and report it."

This annoying girl was pushing his limits, "Yeah? And I suppose you have some sort of miracle solution?"

She giggled again, driving him closer and closer to madness, "I propose that you let me untie you and be happy that I bribed the marine that's taking over for Captain Morgan to forget about you." She took out a knife and cut his ropes, his urge to strangle her for the annoying giggles was suppressed by his shock at being saved by this strange girl, "Exposing Morgan's crimes to higher ranked marines may mean that I lose out on a source of income, as he was a very easy guy to steal from, but I saw no other way to rescue you when his idiot son was bragging about your upcoming execution."

His eyes went wide as he realized this girl might have saved him from not just a month of torture, but from death, not that he would have let them kill him, but sleeping at an inopportune moment has caused trouble in the past, so he wouldn't be overly surprised at being caught off guard. Not that he would admit he had a sleeping problem.

"So what is it you want? You don't just save someone's life without something in it for yourself."

She just smiled that annoying smile as she handed him his swords, confusing him as he hadn't seen anyplace she could have been carrying them. "Oh, you don't have to do anything. Although I would like to extend to you an offer to join my crew."

"A crew? What kind of crew? I'm not going to be a pirate. People may say I'm a bad guy, but I'm not a criminal."

The girl rolled her eyes, "I rather detest that word. If someone has a ship, and the marines don't like 'em, they're a 'pirate'. For now, no marines of importance know of me, and I have no intent to cause any real crimes, so my crew will not technically be pirates. However, in due time, I doubt we can avoid being labeled as such. No one who gets into fights can avoid the label for long without joining the Marines." She sighed, "Mostly, I think we'll end up fighting and capturing pirates, it won't be too different from what you're already doing. Though eventually some corrupt Marine bastard is probably going to give one of us a bounty for some stupid reason or another."

Zoro considered his options. He could leave on his own and continue on as he had. That would be alright, but it wouldn't really help him. He was rather bad with directions, so he couldn't really look for people on his own. He'd never find that man if he kept wandering on his own, he'd just wander around capturing pathetic rookie pirates. He was already having trouble advancing his strength any further. He didn't know much about this girl, but if she wasn't full of hot air, joining her crew could turn out interesting. "Alright, I'll join your crew. Just remember one thing, if you stand in the way of my dream, your life is forfeit."

The girl nodded, clearly pleased by this development, "And what dream would that be?" She asked in a sweet voice.

"I'm going to become the world's greatest swordsman." He used his fiercest voice in an attempt to intimidate her.

"Perfect! I think you make a rather good first crew member." Her smile was beginning to get rather annoying again.

"First?" He groaned, "Do you at least have a decent ship, captain?"

"Oh yes, I have a wonderful ship. I made it myself." Great, he just agreed to be the first mate of a girl with a pathetic home made ship. He sighed, but found it strangely easy to take solace in the fact that she wasn't a complete idiot.

Lost in his thoughts he almost bumped into her as they arrived at the docks, "And here is my ship!" She declared in that sickly sweet voice that somehow projected a sense of smug superiority as well as girlish innocence.

Deciding that mental complaints about her voice weren't getting him anywhere, he took a look at the ship and blinked. He blinked again. Then he rubbed his eyes. It was probably the strangest ship he'd ever seen. Not that it was shoddy, in fact it looked surprisingly well made, but the design was like no other ship he'd ever seen. It was certainly small compared to the giant ships that he'd seen in use by Marines and pirates, it could probably only support up to a crew of six or so at the most. Even with its small size, it looked quite impressive, especially if she really did make it herself. The materials and finish were obviously top quality. The hull was painted a dark blue and the deck above was a solid black, save for the carved designs on the short rail posts strung together with line along the edge of the ship, which retained a wood-grain finish. It was maybe about 40 feet long, not including the bowsprit, and it sat very low in the water for it's length. Zoro quickly revised that thought, it wasn't that it sat low in the water, it's just that the deck was much closer to the water and the cabin didn't rise more than a few inches above the deck. The entire interior of the boat was below the level of the dock. There was a recessed area in the middle, underneath the boom hanging behind the main mast with seating, the steering wheel, and doors to the rear and front areas of the interior. Overall, the design seemed solid, but decidedly strange compare to what he was used to. The strangest part of all to Zoro had to be the sail layout. There were two masts and each had a boom coming off the back, something he didn't see very often. It meant that the ship must be using those weird kind of sails. He had seen lateen sails and gaff-rigged sails on the mizzen-mast of a couple ships and on some tiny boats, and a couple other of those weird triangular sails, but never had he seen a ship bigger than a dinghy without any square sails at all. This ship however, clearly was not rigged for any square sails. Those triangle sails never made much sense to him, if the sails are going from the front of the ship to the back, how is it supposed to catch as much wind?

The girl smiled, "I call it the 'World's Compass.' I know it's an unusual design, but I've talk to all sorts of experts and this is perfect for what I want. It's small compared to those behemoths most pirates and marines sail, but it's most definitely the fastest ship in east blue. And one of the most maneuverable ships of its size in the world. It can practically sail directly upwind! It would be nice to have a bit more room for cargo, and there is no armament to speak of, but it fits my needs. We can sleep now and set sail in the morning. My room is in the back, make sure you stay out. Feel free to sleep anywhere in the front cabin."

Zoro, shrugged, not sure if he believed much that she was saying, but he couldn't bring himself to care. As long as there was someplace to sleep, one ship is as good as another. He was about to figure out where he could get some sleep before he realized something, "So captain, you told me your ship's name, but you never told me yours."

The girl's constant grin widened as she hopped onto the ship, "Of course, how could I forget? My name is Nami!"