So this is my newest fic to go with my newest obsession, One Piece! Do enjoy and let me know what you think! Reviews (especially with constructive criticism) is appreciated!

It had been just another normal day for the Straw Hat Pirates when they found the youngest member of their crew.

For the two of them, anyway. Roronoa Zoro had just joined Luffy's "crew," and had found that the combination of his abuse from that stupid lieutenant's son and his new captain's crazy antics tired him out quickly. He had just settled down for a good, long nap and was about to fall asleep when Luffy cried, "Zoro, look!"

Zoro groaned and cracked open an eye, knowing the energetic Devil's Fruit eater wouldn't let him rest until he looked. "What?" he asked irritably.

"There's a kid out there!" Luffy said, pointing.

"So?"

"He's not moving…"

"What?!" Zoro shot up and looked in the direction Luffy was pointing. Sure enough, there was a kid floating about fifty yards out from their boat. "What the hell are you telling me for? Go get him!"

"Alright!" Luffy said. He prepared himself to jump overboard.

Zoro smacked his forehead. He almost forgot: Luffy was a total hammer! "Wait!" he said, pulling his captain back. "You can't swim!" Luffy pouted. Zoro hurriedly came up with something the rubber boy could do. "But you can stretch your arms out and grab him, right?"

"Oh yeah!" Luffy's face immediately brightened. "Hold on kid, Luffy's here to save you!"

The rubber boy stretched his arms out and hooked his hands under the kid's shoulders. He started to drag the kid to the boat, his arms picking up speed.

"Uh-oh," Luffy said. "They're coming in too fast!"

"Too fast? They're your arms!" Zoro exclaimed. "Slow them down!"

"I can't!" Luffy said. "Catch him! Quick!"

Cursing and shedding his haramaki and swords, Zoro jumped into the water, wincing as the salt made his wounds sting. He adjusted himself so the kid was headed straight for him, instead of the boat.

The kid rocketed into his chest with enough force to push him back and make him hit his head against the side of the boat. Dazed, he had the presence of mind to wrap one arm around the kid's thin body and continue to kick his legs to keep their heads above the water.

"Oops," Luffy said, his head reappearing over the side of the boat. The force of his arms and Zoro's head hitting the boat had made him loose his balance and grip and fall backwards. He reached down and grabbed Zoro, hauling the swordsman and child into the boat, somehow succeeding in not getting himself wet. "Sorry, Zoro."

Zoro grunted and rolled the kid off his chest. He sat up, shaking the salt water out of his green hair. He took a good look at the kid he and Luffy had just saved.

The kid resembled a drowned rat more than a human. The clothes were at least a size or two too big and completely soaked through, leaving a puddle in the bottom of the boat. The kid's short dark hair (it was too wet for him to discern any color from it) was just as wet and clinging to his forehead. At least, Zoro thought it was a boy. He wasn't sure.

It took Zoro a second to realize the kid wasn't breathing. Swearing some more, he hauled the kid up and leaned him over the side of the boat. He raised a hand and brought it down hard on the kid's back.

"What are you doing?" Luffy exclaimed.

"Trying to get him to breath!" Zoro snapped, bringing his hand down again. A third time succeeded in the kid twitching his head and coughing up an impressive amount of water from his small body. The kid had enough time to open his eyes and gasp again before he puked more water, this time through his nose as well as his mouth. Zoro sighed in relief.

A sudden breeze picked up and Zoro shivered. He looked down at his wet clothing, which was still dripping on the boat. He sighed and turned to get a new set of clothes from his bag. At least he wouldn't have to take a bath this week.

"Hey kid," he said, yanking an extra shirt out of his bag. He turned to see Luffy comforting the now shivering kid. "Here. Take off your wet clothes and put this on. It should cover you and it'll help warm you up."

The kid reached out a trembling hand and took the proffered shirt. His eyes darted from Luffy to Zoro.

Sensing what he wanted, Zoro said, "Hey Luffy, turn around."

"Huh?" his moronic captain asked.

Zoro gritted his teeth and growled, "Turn around so we can change, idiot."

"Oh!" Luffy immediately let go of the kid and turned so his back was to them.

Grunting in satisfaction, Zoro turned around and started to strip his wet clothes off. He paused at his underwear, though. Should he or shouldn't he take it off? It wasn't his only pair, but he didn't want the kid turning around and seeing his bare ass, among other things kids shouldn't see.

Zoro decided to risk it. He'd be uncomfortable and would probably chafe if he didn't, so off went the old and on with the new, quickly followed by his pants, shirt, and haramaki with his swords.

He turned to see that the kid and Luffy still had their backs to him. The kid was finishing pulling the shirt down to his knees and Luffy was humming some sort of tune. Zoro grunted to get them to turn back around. Luffy reacted immediately, all smiles. The kid turned slowly, as if afraid that Zoro or Luffy was going to hit him.

Luffy frowned. "Hey Zoro, your shirt's too big on him."

Zoro blinked and saw what Luffy had said was right. The shirt was barely hanging onto the kid's thin shoulders and the rest billowed around his skinny frame like a dress. Zoro took one of his swords (noting out of the corner of his eye how the kid flinched back and didn't relax until the sword was back in its sheath) and cut about two feet of rope off of the extra they had stored off to the side.

"Here," Zoro said. "Use it as a belt until you can get some real clothes your size."

The kid hesitated for a long minute before slowly tying the rope around his waist tightly. Zoro frowned. The rope was too long; a foot and a half would've been plenty, and two feet seemed like more than enough. Hell, the ends of the "belt" almost dangled past the kid's knees. Zoro shrugged to himself. Too late now.

Zoro noticed the strange color of the kid's eyes—a yellow so dark it was like gold, with the faintest grayish silver ring around the pupil. It unnerved him a little. They were like bird's eyes, a bird of prey, the name of which escaped him at the moment. They seemed to be calculating everything the kid looked at—the boat, his swords, even Zoro himself. The kid seemed to be taking in everything without hardly looking anywhere.

Zoro frowned. Something was niggling the back of his mind, something about his ambition to become the world's greatest swordsman. If he could just remember the name of the bird the kid's eyes reminded him of…he decided to shrug it off for now.

"What's your name, kid?" Zoro asked, sitting down and leaning back against the side of the boat. He put his hands behind his head and stared at the kid.

The kid hesitated. "Tatsuo," he said in a rather high voice. Zoro raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. The kid must not have hit puberty yet, or the salt water was affecting his throat.

"Wow! What a strong name!" Luffy cried, smiling broadly at the kid. "It means 'dragon man,' right?"

"Y-Yes," Tatsuo said timidly.

"Do you have any food? Or can you navigate a ship?" Luffy asked, leaning close.

"W-What? Food?" Tatsuo reeled back, obviously not used to such close contact. "N-No! I don't have any food. And I don't know how to navigate."

"Darn," Luffy said, leaning back. He scratched his head. "Guess we'll just drop you off in the next port, then."

"Hold on, Luffy!" Zoro said, sitting up. "We save the kid, then just drop him off as soon as we hit land? That's crazy!" Zoro didn't like going against his captain, but in this instance, he had to disagree.

"But Zoro," Luffy whined, "we don't need him. He can't navigate and doesn't have any food, so why do we need him? We can just drop him off at the next port and help him find a place to stay."

The kid suddenly wailed and threw himself at Zoro's feet, latching onto his leg and making Zoro jump. "Please!" Tatsuo howled. "Don't put me on land! I can't go back!"

"Hey!" Zoro snapped, trying to shake the kid off. "Why are you asking me? I'm not the captain!"

"Please!" Tatsuo whimpered. "I made a promise! I can't go back on land just yet!"

Zoro and Luffy both froze. "Promise? What promise?" Luffy asked.

Tatsuo removed his now-teary face from Zoro's pant leg and mumbled, "I made a promise…to a friend…that I wouldn't go back until I was strong enough to protect her. I have to become strong so she doesn't get hurt anymore! I wanna be a pirate! Pirates are strong!"

"Well…maybe we can figure out a position in our crew for you," Luffy said. "I mean, Zoro and I here are both pretty strong, and we're pirates. You can learn from us!"

"R-Really?" Tatsuo asked, looking at Luffy in awe.

"Sure!" Luffy said, grinning. "Now we just gotta put you in a position for our crew! Hey Zoro, got any ideas?"

Zoro thought for a second. "Doctor?"

Tatsuo shook his head. "I dunno about medicine," he said.

"How about…navigator?" Luffy suggested.

"You already asked me that!"

"Ok…how about musician?"

"I can't sing, or play any instrument, if that's what you mean."

"What about cook?"

"Nope."

"…Cabin boy?"

"What's a cabin boy?"

"Pirate trainee," Zoro suddenly broke in.

"Pirate trainee?" Luffy and Tatsuo echoed.

"They're like cabin boys, only they don't have to do as much cleaning and they're younger, probably around your age, kid," Zoro explained. "Mostly they learn from the crew how to be a pirate from the crew or a specific pirate. They're pretty common on pirate ships."

"Oh yeah, I remember what that is now! I tried to be the pirate trainee on Shanks's ship," Luffy said. He turned to the kid. "Hey Tatsuo, wanna be a pirate trainee?"

"O-Ok," the kid said. "What do I have to do?"

"Nothing right now, really," Luffy said. "We're just sailing to the next port right now, until we can find a navigator and some food."

"And booze," Zoro added.

Luffy frowned. "Wait…if Tatsuo's our pirate trainee, doesn't that mean he needs a sea dad? To learn stuff from?"

Zoro already saw where this was going. "Oh, hell no," he said, glowering at his captain.

"But the captain can't be a sea dad," Luffy tried to encourage. "He's gotta run the ship. Shanks told me so."

"My answer is still no," Zoro said, crossing his arms. "No way in hell am I gonna be the kid's sea dad."

"Zoro, do you see any other people around who can be his sea dad?" Luffy asked, gesturing. "You're the only one!"

"Why can't we wait until somebody else joins?" Zoro grumbled, already knowing he was in a losing battle.

"Tatsuo, you said you wanted to be strong to protect someone, yeah?" Luffy asked the kid, changing tactics. Tatsuo nodded. "Then how about you have the guy who's gonna be the world's greatest swordsman, Roronoa Zoro, as your sea dad?"

Zoro thought the kid's eyes were going to pop out of his head. "The pirate hunter Zoro?" he squeaked, staring at Zoro.

Zoro sighed. "Yeah, that's me. Only I'm not a pirate hunter anymore. I'm just a pirate."

The kid's mouth was hanging open. Zoro half expected a fly to buzz in for a visit.

"C-Can you teach me how to use a sword?" Tatsuo asked.

Ok, not the question he was expecting. "Uh…sure?" Zoro said. "I guess I could teach you…"

"Then it's settled!" Luffy declared. "Tatsuo, meet your new sea dad and mentor, Roronoa Zoro!"

"Uh…it's an honor to be your student, Rono…Rolona…err, Rololora—" Tatsuo stumbled.

Zoro sighed. "Just call me Zoro, kid," he said. "Since you can't pronounce Roronoa."

"Or you could call him Ruwa!" Luffy suggested happily. "He's your sea dad, after all."

"Watch it, Luffy," Zoro growled. "I never officially agreed to it."

"Well then, I'm ordering you to be his sea dad!" Luffy said, making Zoro's jaw drop.

"You—You can't just order me to do that!" he sputtered.

"Sure I can," Luffy said, as if the matter was settled. He started to pick his nose. "I'm the captain. You and Tatsuo have to listen to me. So you're his sea dad and he's your student." He withdrew his finger from his nose and pointed at them as he said their new roles.

Zoro ground his teeth together in frustration. "Fine," he spat. "We're still going to need to hit a port somewhere, though. We need food."

"Right," Luffy said. "Hey Tatsuo, where's the nearest port, do you know?"

"Um," Tatsuo said, biting his lip. "I don't. I…I fell off a ship that was headed somewhere. I don't know where they went."

Zoro looked at him. "You were on a ship and didn't know where it was going?"

"I—I was a stowaway," Tatsuo mumbled. "I just…had to get out of the town I was in. It was the last ship in the port, so I jumped on and hid. I didn't know it was a marine ship until afterwards. I…fell off."

"You mean you were thrown off," Zoro corrected. Tatsuo's head shot up, eyes wide. "Don't try to deny it. The marine's don't care for stowaways, even if it's just some scrawny kid. You're lucky we found you, or you might've died. You were really close to drowning already."

"Y-Yeah," the kid said, looking down at his hands. "Thanks for that, I guess."

Zoro grunted and looked up. It was starting to get dark. He yawned. "Time to hit the hay," he said, adjusting himself so he was comfortable. He looked over at his captain, who was already asleep. Zoro rolled his eyes. "I suggest you get some sleep too, kid."

"Uh…Zoro?" the kid asked. "You're not…you're not gonna drop me off in the next port like that guy was saying, right?" Tatsuo gave him a pleading look.

"No," Zoro said. "Just get some sleep. You're training will start tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok," the kid said, curling up across from Zoro. "Hey Zoro?"

"What, kid?"

"…Can I call you Ruwa? Like Luffy was saying?"

Zoro grunted. "Fine by me, squirt," he said. "Now go to sleep."

"Ok…Ruwa." The kid closed his eyes and was soon asleep, Zoro right behind him.

I was running again.

My lungs were burning, my legs and arms sluggish in response to what I wanted them to do. It was like I was running through honey, but the people who were chasing me were unaffected by it. All of them were calling my name: "Riko, Riiiiiiiiikkkkoooooooooo…"

"Leave me alone!" I wailed between gasps, trying to run faster.

Suddenly I was in a dojo. The master was glaring at me and he raised a bokken. "Get out of my dojo," he snarled, swinging the practice sword—which turned into a real sword the moment it hit my side. The other kids were on the sides, laughing at me and pointing. "Women, especially girls, can't become swordsmen!"

I cried out as the hard metal lashed my ribs and sent me flying to the floor. My hands became bound by ropes and a gag wrapped around my mouth as one of the marines from the ship I'd snuck on laughed. "Stupid girl," he said, kicking my ribs where the master had hit me. "You can't mess with the marines. Now give me that money you stole from me and get the hell off this ship. Kids don't belong here, especially fragile little girls like you." Another hard kick to my chest sent me flying into a corner, gag and binds gone.

My father loomed over me, laughing as I tried to scramble backwards and only succeeded in banging my head against the wall. He cackled some more and pressed a hand against my mouth to muffle my whimpers. "You can't run from me, you little bitch," he snarled, pulling a knife out and running the sharp edge softly along my cheek. I closed the eye closest to the knife and whimpered. "I'll always find you. You'll never escape from me or this knife." He brought the knife down to my ribs directly in front of my heart and stabbed.

I jerked upright, screaming into a large, rough hand. It took my nightmare-panicked mind a second to realize it wasn't mine and I reached up and clawed at it with my fingernails, kicking out with my feet to hit the person who was holding me. There was a low grunt as my heel connected with something, but the hand didn't let my mouth go. Squealing in protest and fear, I jerked my head side to side to try to rid my mouth of the hand.

Another hand clasped my shoulder and shook me. "Tatsuo!" a low voice hissed. "Dammit kid! Wake up!"

Tatsuo? Tatsuo's here? Where? Why isn't he helping me? I grunted and succeeded in rearing my head back far enough to get my teeth on the hand and bite hard.

"Ow!" The hand was yanked roughly out of my mouth and my teeth almost went with it. "What the hell was that for, squirt?"

Gasping from the workout I'd given my lungs, I realized I'd just bitten Zoro, my new mentor. He was easily six times bigger than me, or more, and was probably mad at what I did. There was no doubt in my mind I was about to pay for what I'd done. I scrabbled back to the edge of the boat, waiting for the punishment blow to come. My breath was ragged and I was trembling, the adrenaline running through me making it worse.

"Hey, Tatsuo," Zoro said in a low, soft voice. I curled up tighter. I'd been tricked like that before. No way was I gonna fall for it again.

A hand rested on my shoulder and I instinctively flinched. The hand was removed and I heard Zoro sigh. "Look, I'm not gonna hurt you, ok?" I turned, giving him a wary look. Well, as wary a look as I could manage in the low moonlight. "On my honor as a swordsman."

Slowly, I turned and sat up, still ready to duck or run at a moment's notice. That or just jump overboard. This boat was small; kinda hard to run unless I jumped into the sea.

Zoro studied me for a minute before backing up. I relaxed, but only slightly. One fast

move and he could still reach me, and then I'd get the beating I was preparing for. "You ok?" he asked. "Wanna talk about it or something?"

I blinked. I wasn't expecting that. I shook my head. "No," I mumbled, looking down at my hands, though I kept one eye on him. "It's nothing."

Zoro crossed his arms and snorted. "It was obviously something, from the way you were thrashing and screaming in your sleep. You gave my ribs a good kick and I'm surprised you didn't wake Luffy up too. You've got quite the pair of lungs on you."

I winced and looked back at my lap. "It's really nothing," I said weakly.

I felt Zoro's gaze on me for a long minute. "Who's Riko?" he asked suddenly.

My head shot up. I had said my real name in my sleep? Oh shit! "She's…uh…"

"Is she the one you made your promise to?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah," I said, inwardly relieved. I'd forgotten about my "promise." "She's…a really good friend. I miss her…a lot."

Silence settled over the small boat, except for the other guy's—what was his name, Luffy?—snoring and mine and Zoro's breathing. I stayed very still, my eyes locked on my lap. I hoped that the longer I stayed still and quiet, the sooner he'd forget about the bite and wouldn't hurt me. Just because he'd given his word didn't mean he wouldn't.

Suddenly a yawn escaped me and I took advantage of it. "Just…I wanna go back to sleep. Please?"

Zoro watched me for another long minute. "Alright," he said finally. I suppressed a sigh of relief and turned to go to sleep. "But you will tell me what's wrong later, alright?"

I hesitated. "Um…"

"It doesn't have to be tomorrow," he said, settling back down. "I don't care when you tell me. But if you want me to train you, I've got to know what bothers you. So you've got to tell me at some point."

I was silent for a moment, thinking. Zoro must've taken that as a hesitation, because he said, "I'll still train you, you know. It's just that knowing what bothers you makes it easier on me, as the teacher, and you, as the student. How about this? You tell me about your nightmares, and I'll tell you about my past and the promise I made. Deal?"

I bit my lip, thinking over what I had to lose. Nothing serious came to mind, other than I might lose my teacher. But, maybe by the time he learned I was a girl, I would know enough I could go back and fulfill my promise.

"Deal," I said.

Satisfied, Zoro leaned back and closed his eyes. Soon his breathing was deep and even, but I still waited until I was absolutely sure he was asleep to relax so I could get some sleep too.

I reached inside my shirt and fingered the silver necklace that rested against my chest. I ran my fingertips down the small, thick cross that hung on the chain until they reached two intricately inscribed letters, the only letters I knew: DM.

Tatsuo, I thought, running my thumb over the letters again and again. I'm sorry. Sorry I have to use your name. I miss you. I wish you could come back and that I didn't have to run away all the time and that it was just you and me and Mom together and we were living by the sea like you always wanted because you wanted to be a Marine and a doctor and…and…

A tear slipped from my right eye and hit the bottom of the boat. Angry at myself, I dug the heel of my palm into my eye to prevent further tears. I dropped the pendant and concentrated on getting some sleep.