"The water feels so good, 'cause its super hot out!" Tara said swimming alongside the Going Merry. She looked at her captain's droopy face with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. "Yeah, I'm burning up…Hey! I wanna chill off too!" Luffy said with a trademark grin as he plopped himself into the sea. "Luffy-san…you can't swim." The mermaid declared letting him ride on her back to the island she had suggested to stay on during the storm.

"Here we are!" Tara cried out with joy, swimming gracefully with a pleased Luffy on her back. "Wow, I never knew that swimming was so fun and easy!" When the mermaid beached on the shore, Nami had corrected him. "Luffy, you can't swim!" All of the straw hats left the ship and decided to part their ways; this Island was where Tara was born and she had already told them where everything was. Of course, by now no one lived there—that's what she thought, last time she had visited was years ago—it was her private hiding place.

"Even thought it's a vacation…I still have to train." Zolo said to himself. He had his whole training agenda planned out for the day. First, he'd work on using one sword. It's always good to have the skills for using one sword in case a mishap occurred with his two other blades. Next, he was going to strengthen his muscles more. All he had to worry about was whether his scab would open up…or getting lost.

"Are you enjoying yourselves? Yes?" Tara asked the marksman and captain. "Mmhmm, this food looks great!" Usopp said stuffing his face. Luffy nodded in agreement as the two spoke in unison. "Let's eat candy!" Those two boys stuffed their faces with candied fruits and other sweets. The mermaid chuckled at the two 'children'. "I'm going to go find Zolo and offer him some. He works so hard and doesn't even eat sometimes!" After wandering around aimlessly to find him Tara finally saw Zolo—but wasn't exactly happy with what she found. "You're lost; and wounded!"

"It's a good thing that I came when I did. You could have been infected." Tara sighed and moved the green sash the swordsman wears around his waist up onto his open scar. "You're always training every day. Why do you push yourself so hard?" Zolo sighed and managed to sit up against a tree trunk. "I made a promise to someone very close to me." The merman's ears perked up at the word promise. "What was her name? The woman you promised?" The swordsman was quite shocked at Tara's statement. "H-how do you know it's not a man?" The young lady laughed and started to explain in a reasoned manner. "Well, a most of the time when a man makes a promise that he doesn't break, it's an engagement." Not only was Zolo now shocked, his face was turning a rosy red. "Kuina isn't my fiancé!"

"What? Who's Kuina?" Tara asked. After all, if someone was thought to be betrothed to another than it must be someone close to Zolo. "Is she your girlfriend, Zolo? You don't have to answer me if you don't want to. I-I just met you and all…" First mate sighed and ran a hand through his light green locks. "Meh, I guess I should tell you the whole story anyways…" He sighed and rolled his eyes towards the sky.

"When I was a kid, I challenged a dojo to a battle. I lost against a young girl training there named Kuina. We would pit our skills against each other all the time until one day Kuina got in an accident and died. One of the three swords I wield now belonged to her." He unsheathed his blade and looked at it glisten in the sun's rays, and then put it back away. "Back then we promised one another that one of us would be the best swordsman…and that's why I train so hard." Zolo looked down at the grass.

"Its like you are carrying out her wish. That's so sweet of you, Zolo!" Tara smiled and took a bite out of the food that she had prepared for him. "Oh! I guess I forgot to give you the food I made…Oops…Well, its some of the fruits around here. Citric Isle is known for its limes, you have no idea how good they taste…Anyways, I should go now." The mermaid stood up. "Thanks for talking to me. It's nice that we can just chat sometimes!" She smiled and ran off to find the others. Zolo's face grew a slight pink. "Who is that strange girl…and why is she making me feel like this…"


Notes from CP
Notice that Citric Isle isn't included in the original One Piece storyline. The reason is that in the American version of the manga (I'm going by Shonen Jump, they are the farthest) that the Merry Go isn't in the Grand Line yet. Heck, the Viz volumes are still at Arlong Park! So if I'm going ot keep a steady pace with the media I'm going by I need to add in some arcs of my own...

So be expecting more fillers (and light shed on Zolo and Tara's blooming relationship) coming your way! Ciao!