This is another attempt at a fanfic. The story is mostly done so I will try to do weekly updates. I hope you will enjoy it and don't hesitate to review and give me good and bad critic, I appreciate it all ^^

The story takes place after the time skip…

CHAPTER 1

The sky was filled with dark clouds that were about to burst and shower the land and sea beneath it with rain. The Thousand Sunny was docked to a small pier and Zoro was taking a nap on the deck while Luffy and Usopp were running around to a cheerful tune played by Brook. Sanji and Franky had gone to the village to buy some last minute necessities together with Chopper. Nami was worriedly looking out at the sea and Robin walked up to her.

"Navigator-san, is everything ok?"

"Hmm? Oh, Robin! I'm just worried about the weather. I have feeling that we need to leave this island as soon as possible."

"You think the logpose will settle today?"

"It should, the locals told me that it would settle on the fourth day. How did your shopping go?

"I found some seemingly good books that I just put away." She replied with a smile. As she finished her sentence a yell could be heard and then a loud crash. The women turned their heads to the sound to find out that Luffy and Usopp had crashed into Zoro who was now laying in a somewhat uncomfortable position with the other two above him.

He made a grunt and pushed them away from him.

"Mattaku!"

"Wari Zoro! Hehe!"

Zoro just shook his head and stood up and stretched. When he began to make his way off the ship Nami got a bad feeling telling her to stop him.

"Hey Zoro were are you going?"

"On a walk." He said as he scratched his ear.

"The log pose will probably settle in an hour or two, and a storm is coming. We will have to leave as soon as possible, we can't afford you getting lost in the village."

"Tsk, just send Chopper, he can follow my scent." He continued walking and ignored the rest of Nami's words.

Zoro began to walk through the village and look for a bar he could enter. After not so long he found a place that looked somewhat clean but still noisy. He sat down at the bar and ordered an entire pitch of sake. He poured himself a cup and took it immediately. As he set the cup back down again he leaned his head to his hand and looked out over the bar. A couple of people were playing some sort of a game in the corner of the room and throughout the room women were seducing men. Zoro realized what kind of bar he must have gone into. He poured himself another drink, and looked longingly at the women but then shook his head, it would be nice to go and have some fun but he had understood the seriousness in what Nami had said. If Chopper was to find him, he rather not be interrupted so it was better not to start anything. He poured himself two more cups. He stared into his empty cup while thoughts were running through his mind.

Oi, Kuina, are you enjoying my trip of becoming the greatest swordsman there is? Sometimes I wonder, if you were still here would I ever have become as good as I am today? Would I ever have met Luffy? Would we have grown to become something more? Would love have happened between us? I don't know why I have these sappy thoughts right now but sometimes I wonder. Nami and Robin are nice but I will never see them as anything more than nakamas and sisters. It would be nice if you could help out a bit and help me get a girlfriend. Hehe, this sake must be stronger than I thought to give me these thoughts. Well I must be crazy to think I would be able to find a girl who would want to stay with a pirate. Nani…? My sake is already gone, damnit. An hour already passed, I should try to get back to the ship before the witch adds interest to my debt.

Zoro made his way out of the bar and began strolling down the streets to where he thought the ship might be. After a few minutes of walking he heard someone sing. The voice was clear and bright but the tune was full of emotions. He began to walk in that direction and stopped when he reached its origin. He found himself in front of a girl in a dirty rag that was supposed to be a dress. Her long dark emerald hair was messy and pointed in all directions, she had no shoes on her feet, and face and body looked really skinny.

He looked her over and saw that she was selling some kind of fruit. She had stopped singing as he approached and was now looking at him curiously. "You're not cold?" He asked her while raising an eyebrow.

She shrugged and simply said. "That's life, the world is a cold place." A shiver ran through him as he heard her say those harsh words. This girl didn't look well and here she was singing and selling fruit. Zoro was a bit confused on what to do. After a moment he asked her.

"How much for the fruit?

"10 beli each."

He checked his pocket and took out all the coins he had left, which was only 13 beli. He gave her all and told her to keep the rest. She looked at him with wide eyes and gave him a fruit and while weakly saying thank you. The fruit was small so he ate it up at once.

"This little fruit sure is good!" He said and smiled at her. He was about to turn around and leave when he heard her say.

"Please, take some more with you. You are my first customer in days. If no one eats them they will go bad." She had a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Then why don't you eat them."

"My employee won't allow me, I rather you have it than them?"

"You sure about that? You won't get in trouble for it?"

"I can deal with whatever they'll do to me, please have some, if I can defy them just a little it will make me happy."

Zoro didn't particularly like the part 'whatever they'll do to me', he looked her over again and saw that determined look in her face. He gave her a nod and then smiled. "Then go ahead, give me as much as you feel like." Her face brightened up and she smiled from the bottom of her heart. His heart skipped a bit from receiving such a smile but as the man he was he didn't let it show. She was humming a soft melody as she filled a medium sized leather bag until there was no space left and then tied a secure knot that would stay unless someone cut it up. Zoro received it, thanked her and began to walk away.

"I didn't see you pay for that." A muscular man said stepping out from a shadow together with four other men, all holding long knifes. One of them walked passed Zoro up to the girl. He grabbed her hair and pulled her face upwards.

"Nah, Lexi, don't tell me you gave it to him for free." Zoro turned around right on time to see the man slap the girl to the ground.

"Run, these men are strong, get away!" She cried out. The man getting pissed off at her, kicked her in her belly.

"You wench, you want to die?" The man asked as he kicked her again, and again." After seeing that she went limp he kicked her once more before stopping.

Zoro watched the scene with angry eyes. How could they do that to a fragile girl like her.

"Are you gonna pay for that?" The man that had appeared first asked.

"I'm a pirate, I don't pay, I take." He said simply.

"Yare, yare… if you can't pay I guess we just have to kill you."

"What about her?" Zoro nodded towards the unconscious girl on the ground.

"Lexi? She will get a good beating and go without supper. A wench like her should be happy for whatever she can get." The men around him began to laugh.

"I won't allow that to happen." As he said that the air got tense and heavy. The boss and the two men charged at him with knifes, but before they could register they were laying on the ground bleeding from their chests. Zoro turned around to the last man that was standing over the girl. He ran towards the man who pulled out a gun and fired. With his quick reflexes Zoro cut the bullet in half and sliced the man up. Before he had reached the ground the man had already died.

Zoro wiped his blade on the man's jacket and unsheathed his sword. One sword had been more than enough for lowlifes like these men. He kneeled next to the girl and checked for pulse and breathing, it was there but very faintly. I better let Chopper take a look at her. He thought worriedly as he carefully picked her up and placed her on his back. He began to walk once again, he never would admit it out loud but he was completely lost. It was at this moment that Chopper decided to find him. The little reindeer ran up to him with a panicked face.

"Zoro! I have looked everywhere for you! We have to hurry back, the Sunny is under attack."

"By who?"

Suddenly the rain started to pour down heavily and thunder could be heard. With no warning the wind began to whip them.

"By marines that had docked on another part of the island." Chopper changed into Walk Point and began to run towards the ship with Zoro right on his heels.

They ran as fast as they could and when Usopp saw them he shouted. "Nami they're back!"

"That was about time!"

As soon as Chopper and Zoro put their feet on the ship the Sunny flew forward with the help of coup de vent, and they managed to escape the marines. When Thousand Sunny continued on a more steady peace everyone came up on deck to see that everyone was ok.

"Stupid Marimo, of course you would get lost on the last day when we had to be in a hurry."

"Shut up your ero-cook!"

"Zoro-san who is it that you have on your back?" Robin asked curiously. Hearing the question the rest of the crew inspected him more clearly and found out that he was indeed carrying someone.

"Oh, shit I forgot I had her on my back! I didn't mean to take her with us! Chopper can you take a look at her, she's hurt."

"Then let's hurry and take her to the infirmary room." Chopper said in his doctor mode.

"Luffy, you're ok with Zoro taking her onboard like that?" Franky asked casually.

"Zoro probably had a good reason. We will wait for his explanation." They all settled down to wait for the first mate and the crew doctor.

Some 10-15 min later the two of them came up on deck, with Zoro having a troubled look on his face which was unusual to his normally non-caring expression. They sat down and made themselves comfortable around the rest.

"How's the girl? Is her injurious serious?" Nami asked to get the conversation going.

Chopper got a thoughtful look on his face and then answered. "She is very malnourished, so Sanji please look after her diet carefully while she's with us." Sanji gave a curt nod. "She also has a lot of bruises which makes me think that she has been abused. I gave her some painkillers but she is really weak at the moment."

There was a short pause after he finished before Luffy continued. "Zoro why did you bring her onboard the ship? What happened?"

Zoro sighed and then began from the very moment he first met the girl. He remembered he had the bag with the fruits and gave them to Luffy while describing how he got them. He continued his story to the end where him and Chopper got back to the ship. "Captain I'm sorry if I did wrong for bringing her with me."

"Nah, nah, don't worry! She gave you free food, she must be really nice! Let's go down and greet her and see how she is." Luffy said cheerfully while jumping excitedly on his spot.

"Luffy, and everyone, just remember not to startle her, she will be very confused when she wakes up being in a new environment and everything." Chopper said worriedly.

"Hai, hai! Let's go!" He yelled and the crew just shrugged their shoulders as they followed their captain to the infirmary.