This story was inspired by the fanfiction 'Curse' by Jennifer Wilson. If you hadn't read it yet, go do it! It's awesome!
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own One Piece.
Now that we're clear, enjoy!
Waterfalls are unharnessed elemental motions that have positive and negative connotations in both myths and legends, representing purity, the descent of deities, but also the breakdown of a person and failure. Despite their double edged facets, they ultimately denote happiness, vigor and the flow of life which translates, in the end, to all beings as energy.
A lone, dark eye snapped open in the darkness of the stone room. Its owner released a shuddering breath as consciousness assaulted his wounded body and the pain registered. Granted, Zoro was used to this kind of pain. It was a relatively usual occurrence, given the nature of his 'occupation'. Being 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro and a man aspiring to be the world's greatest swordsman was not something anyone could scoff at, though he would never think to abandon his dream or take a shortcut. Such things did not deserve to exist, in his opinion.
The green haired man tried to stand up, but his wounds seemed deeper this time and hurt nothing short of like a bitch. It was truly a wonder he was up, Chopper would say. Then Nami would whack him over the head for being an idiot, Usopp and Luffy would cheer and demand a feast and that bastard cook would curse them to the next Sunday while making sure to keep glaring and throwing a few choice words in his direction as well.
His mind quickly flashed to the rather recent addition to their crew and the swordsman frowned painfully. Robin would probably look indifferent, though she'd still change the towel over his forehead if Chopper would fall asleep and forget about it. That woman was as strange as they came. He couldn't figure out her intentions or reasons for coming along with them and not using the first chance she got to kill them all. Zoro had promised himself to always stay on his guard around her, but that was proving harder and more time consuming to do when he had to deal with heavy injuries and being wounded in general whenever fights happened. Which was kind of always.
Zoro grunted and decided to let such matters slide for now. He didn't have time for dilly-dallying. His mind briefly flashed back to the last memory before he had lost consciousness and his body reflexively tensed as he stood up from the bed. Enel had just finished frying Robin and he had unthinkingly jumped in to save her.
The swordsman grimaced when he remembered that he had received the same treatment. Goddamn the conductivity of his katana. That was one big fucking thing to deal with, but the pirate's mind quickly concluded that he'd have to learn to cut electricity now. He wasn't sure if it was possible or not, but considering that he had managed to cut steel, this was just another small step.
His vision finally stopped swimming and adjusted to his dark surroundings. It seemed he was in a spacious room, the tiles on the floor shined in the moon's rays and on the distant wall there was an assortment of different knight armors and even a hearth by the far window. The stone gave off a chilling atmosphere and the small flames of the crackling fire were not enough to stop the cold. Zoro shivered involuntarily and he looked down to see himself with only a pair of pants on.
What in the bloody hell had happened to him? And where was he? The green head sincerely doubted he was still on Skypea. The atmosphere of the place was too dark and obscure to be really located on the light island. His sharp ears caught the sound of approaching footsteps and his pulse quickened.
Could he have been abducted? Or maybe that bastard Enel had taken him somewhere?
No matter what it was, Zoro didn't have time to stand around and let himself he slaughtered by that long eared freak. His gaze quickly roamed the bed and its vicinity, but there was no Sandai Kitetsu, Yubashiri and – his stomach dropped with dawning realization – no Wado Ichimonji.
The footsteps ceased and the green haired man knew he didn't have time. With one last inhuman effort, he heaved himself out of bed only for his feet to protest against his weight and the ice cold floor. His fall was cushioned by the mattress and in that moment, the double doors swung open inwardly and a dark figure carrying a candle holder with three lit candles stepped inside.
"Oh, you're up already, Zoro?" The smooth female voice asked and said swordsman felt his blood turn to ice. What the hell was that woman doing here?
Was she at fault? He knew she couldn't be trusted!
Zoro opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by a squeal next to his bed that made him jump in surprise.
"Zoro! I'm so glad!" Chopper's face broke into a delighted smile and he wiped some sweat from his brow.
"Fufu, I told you he was going to be fine, Chopper." Robin also stepped closer, her smiling face entering the range of the candles.
The green head's growl surprised both his crewmates, but Zoro only had eyes for the culprit of this situation. Or who he deemed the culprit was anyway. He absentmindedly wondered what happened to his vision, too.
"So you were onto something." Robin raised an eyebrow when his accusing glare settled on her. "And to think I even saved you from Enel." Granted, it was a involuntary action, but still. "And you even made Chopper your prisoner!"
"... Enel?" The black head spoke slowly, as if trying that word on her tongue.
"What are you talking about, Zoro? Did you hit your head, too?!" The small reindeer exclaimed, his face a mask of horror and shame. "What kind of doctor am I for not noticing!?"
Ignoring Chopper's cries for the moment, Robin asked the clearly confused swordsman.
"Kenshi-san, what is the last thing you remember?"
Zoro reeled back and looked between the two with a scowl. "Don't place me with the amnesiac bunch. I very well know the last thing that happened! After I deal with you, I'm gonna beat that Enel bastard and then give Luffy a good chewing for allowing you join our crew."
Robin flinched at hearing Luffy's name of all things and Chopper was suddenly close to crying his eyes out.
"Wh-What are you talking about, Zworo?" The reindeer sniffed, wiping his eyes on his T-shirt.
"I think I understand what is going on." The archaeologist lifted Chopper up despite Zoro's dark glare and summoned a couple of bonus limbs to send the chair near the mouth of the hearth sliding over on the tiles towards them.
She sat down gingerly, letting another bodiless hand keep hold of the support. Zoro settled on the bed more comfortably and crossed his arms as he awaited the probably long-rehearsed explanation. Robin surprised him by reaching to her waist and untying the tree unseen swords that had been hanging there. The swordsman was close to strangling her. How dare she touch his katana?!
"I am sorry for the inconvenience." The raven head offered a polite smile as she gently placed the swords by his side. Zoro fleetingly considered cutting this conversation short – literally. "I know you like to have them on your side at every moment, but they were too bloody so I cleaned the scabbards."
The green head swallowed down the approving sound that had risen up in his throat. So she wasn't suicidal enough yet to be unsheathing his blades. His hand went to touch them, but immediately found something strange. One sword was missing.
Yubashiri, he concluded.
And another one took its place. It had quite the challenging aura.
"Oi, woman. This is not my sword." He presented the right sheath pointedly.
"It is, just not yet."
Her words caused his eyebrow to rise.
"It's your future self's."
Despite the absurd notion and the situation as a whole, Zoro let his jaw hang open for a few moments. Chopper was quick to mirror him.
"Eh?! What do you mean, Robin?" The doctor looked between his friends. He did not see anything wrong with Zoro physically, though he was really concerned about his mental health at the moment. Could Robin be right and nothing like amnesia was the cause? Granted, the last fight his green haired friend had been in turned out quite the massacre. Chopper internally cringed at the memory.
"I believe that Kenshi-san came here from the past. Well, his mind did at least. That would be the only explanation for the fact that he doesn't remember anything. I watched the fight yesterday too." Her brown eyes fell on Chopper who nodded. "Zoro didn't receive any wound to the head so it's quite impossible for amnesia to happen."
The doctor could name a few things that could cause it and not be related to the head, but in this case he very much doubted it as well. So another crazy thing had really happened, huh?
"I see."
"Oi, don't be so quick to agree with her!" Zoro frowned from his spot on the bed. "For all I know, this can be some kind of trap set up by her."
Robin opened her mouth to disagree, but the small reindeer in her arms crossed his hoofs and tried to glare up at his friend, though it only came out as a cute pout.
"Robin isn't trying to do anything to you or me! She's our nakama."
Yeah, I have a tough time agreeing with that.
"Well, I have a hard time believing that." Zoro barked, though he immediately felt bad when he saw Chopper flinch. "What the hell is happening here, then?"
Robin decided to begin with small steps. "You have been in a big fight and were recuperating. Me and Chopper were just about to eat lunch when-"
"I don't care about that." The green haired man rolled his eyes, but suddenly found out that he couldn't. Well, not both of them anyway. That was when his brain finally realized that his left eye was closed. Now it made sense that something was bothering him about his vision ever since he woke up. The only question was how the hell did this happen?
"What the hell happened to my eye?" Zoro moved to touch it, but Chopper's answer shocked him enough to stop.
"You just came back with it one day." The small reindeer took it upon himself to loosen Robin's burden just a little bit. He still wasn't sure if past Zoro should learn about the future or not. Maybe he could change something... but then again, maybe he could make things worse. And seeing as Robin didn't protest, the doctor realized he might have made a good choice for now.
"It's really surprising that you hadn't noticed until now." The archaeologist giggled. "It seems like your muscle memory is as reliable as always."
Ignoring the compliment, Zoro decided to believe them for now. It kind of made sense, something he usually didn't like to admit.
"And what are we doing here? Where are Luffy and the others?" The swordsman's eye narrowed when the two in front of him flinched again and Chopper's eyes glistened with unshed tears in the dim light of the candles.
"I told you what we are doing here. This is the castle of your former teacher." Robin explained and the green head felt compelled to raise an eyebrow.
He had had – or would have? – a teacher – master? – and somehow, he had a castle and Zoro could just march around in there without a care in the world. Not to mention that it was a little strange the guy owned a castle at all.
"And where is he? I doubt he'd be the kind of guy who'd just let us walk around in his castle."
Robin's amusement was almost tangible and Chopper actually looked up from his incessant sniveling that served to make Zoro even more nervous.
"You are indeed right. I am really impressed by how well you know yourself, Kenshi-san." The black haired woman's eyes twinkled. "So well that you'd know exactly what kind of man you'd be willing to learn under."
Embarrassed, Zoro's hand went to the back of his head out of reflex. That woman threw compliments left and right like flowers and it was becoming more and more irritating. He wondered if she was doing it on purpose.
The moment Robin's face sobered up and her smile melted into a blank expression was the moment Zoro knew the serious discussion had finally begun. He would receive some answers at last.
"He's dead, Zoro. You killed him."
Somewhere to the back of his mind, the swordsman noticed the sudden shift in the room's general atmosphere and its deathly silence. Even the fire had gone out. The pirate wasn't sure what to think about this particular piece of information, but he kind of felt that his future self wouldn't have done something like this without a good reason and certainly not out of boredom.
"I am not sure if we should tell you more about the future, but since I don't have any way of knowing how you got here and when you'll be returning, I believe it is in our best interest if we inform you of what is going on in our time." The archaeologist continued, glancing at the reindeer sitting in her lap. Chopper kept nodding affirmatively all the while.
Zoro consented hesitantly, not sure if it was something he could have argued about anyway. He decided to keep his mouth shut for a while, hoping these guys would spill as much info as they could.
Robin took a deep breath, calming her sudden nerves and sorting her thoughts and memories as she tried to devise a good story to tell. She won't burden the green head with too many details.
"You killed him," she repeated, opting to continue from where she'd left off, "and became the world's greatest swordsman."
Robin smiled at the splitting grin the swordsman's face broke into. Chopper grinned back.
"Not long before that we have found Raftel and Luffy became the Pirate King."
"So this is after that time, huh." Zoro burst out speaking, forgetting his earlier promise to not interfere. "I guess you guys accomplished your dreams too?"
Both future crewmates nodded and the swordsman was glad for all of them – even the love cook.
"Something like that. There were a couple of conflicts that followed, but just as we were about to embark on the reverse journey – towards the beginning of the Grand Line – to see Laboon and presumably go to East Blue, we made one last stop on Raftel."
Chopper's sudden sniff broke the tense atmosphere and Zoro was glad for it. He didn't like where this was going.
"Luffy had asked us to wait on the Sunny, our new ship," the archaeologist added to Zoro's perplexed look, "saying that he had to see something for himself before leaving the island behind. And we consented. It was a captain's order after all."
The black haired woman pursed her lips and a shadow passed behind her brown gaze.
"We waited for him on the shore for a month, but he didn't come back. Three years have passed since then."
Robin looked up at Zoro as if inviting him to comment about their captain's whereabouts, but the green head was so shocked, the image before his eye distorted for a moment before returning into sharp focus. Zoro's mind finally noticed the many things he had missed in his clouded state of mind that the shock had winded out of him.
For one thing, Chopper had grown up and his fur was lighter colored. He was also wearing a different and larger hat than in the past, though his blue nose was still there and looking as cute as ever – not that Zoro would ever say that out loud. Robin looked unchanged save for the longer hair she now had tied in a ponytail. The black haired woman looked even younger without bangs shadowing her eyes.
She looks friendlier and a more open type of person, his mind supplied helpfully. And Chopper seems more mature and confident.
"And you didn't even go search for him?!" The swordsman bit, angry all of a sudden.
Robin shook her head slowly. "We could not defy a captain's order, but we did leave to search for people who could go look for him on the island and came back barely one week later. They had inspected every nook of the island, but he was gone – disappeared without a trace. I had my fair share of doubts, but I couldn't back them up without serious research. That's what I've been doing for the past years."
Chopper whimpered. "We tried to enter the island, but it threw us back to the ocean. After everyone had come back empty handed we decided to go search for more answers on Sabaody-"
Zoro raised an eyebrow at the unknown name, but let the doctor continue undeterred. He looked like he needed to say this.
"-but just as we left its magnetic field, Raftel suddenly disappeared too! And it hadn't reappeared until now." The reindeer burst out in full sobs and buried his face in Robin's blouse.
The woman patted his head gently, a sympathetic smile playing on her lips. Her wide, melancholic eyes informed the green head of everything he needed to know and he inwardly wondered when that mysterious and closed off Miss All-Sunday had transformed into this normal woman that could display her emotions so freely.
"It did not last long before the crew split up." The next part of the story was like a guillotine shot to the swordsman.
"What?! Why the fuck would you do that?" Zoro's teeth were clenched tightly in an effort to restrain his violent impulse. What the fuck was in his future self's idiotic mind for doing such a stupid thing?! Would he become such a bastard after he had seen his dream accomplished that he wouldn't care about his captain anymore? Was that the path he really wanted to take?
Granted, Zoro had promised the rubber teen that if he would ever become a nuisance, the swordsman would get rid of him, but after spending as much time with Luffy as he had in his time, the man sincerely doubted the guy would drag him down willingly. He was slowly starting to realize that Luffy would be the one to raise him up actually.
"It was a unanimous decision. I wanted to continue my research on this matter and I had to travel around the Grand Line and the New World, the second part of the Grand Line," Robin pinched in another explanation for the benefit of the visitor from the past, "and most of the others didn't feel safe and whole to travel without Luffy. You probably still don't see it, but Luffy was truly our only real Log Pose. Besides, a crew without a captain is doomed to die or split sooner or later. That is the ugly truth. Even though everyone considered you to be the first mate, you adamantly refused to become the captain and everyone understood that. After we had split up, everyone went their separate ways, but we are still keeping in touch. You continued to travel around the Grand Line and the New World, looking for opponents to fight. Chopper decided to join you since you'd probably get wounded more often than not and he didn't want to return to his home island yet."
The reindeer nodded from his spot, still buried deeply into Robin's stomach.
"I would sometimes visit you when I had the time. Sanji continued his travels as well, though his were much more peaceful."
Zoro snorted. Obviously the idiot cook would travel for the sole purpose of ogling women and food. The green head was ninety percent sure that the idiot blond was probably banned from half the islands in the Grand Line and had a bounty for that reason only.
"Well, his main purpose was researching the different varieties of food around the world, but I do agree that the women in those countries were a welcomed bonus as well." The black haired woman released a short laugh and Zoro smirked.
"He wrote to me some time ago from all the way in West Blue. Nami went to Alabasta and stayed with princess Vivi for a while before returning to East Blue to finish her world map. Usopp went to Elbaf as well for a couple of months. He had these little shows that were quite popular back then, since he is known as one of the best snipers in the world."
Woah, seems like Usopp has been busy. Zoro allowed himself an upturn of the lips at the good news. And the witch wasn't doing half bad either.
"Nami had sent me a letter two years ago to tell me that she had met Usopp on a ship travelling towards East Blue. They got back home together." Robin explained, a sad smile playing on her lips. "Franky, our shipwright, had gone back to his hometown in Water 7. From what he had written me, the Thousand Sunny was docked securely and he had assumed again his gang leader position in the city. Not many people were all too happy with that, though." The archaeologist giggled behind her hand. "And our musician, Brook, decided to return to the life of a rockstar and I heard he continues to sing in low-key concerts around Sabaody."
So Luffy did manage to get a musician. That's nice, I guess. Zoro thought, crossing his arms over his chest.
At the thought of his scatterbrained captain, the swordsman's lips arched down and a frown overcame his features.
"So the crew is split apart and no one is searching for Luffy besides you anymore?" Somehow, that thought was bothering him very much. Why did it come down to Robin, the woman who in the past was the least trusted – he didn't know about the other two – to continue alone in searching for Luffy?
Robin's smile stretched, as if she could sense his train of thought and said.
"No, you do search for him in your own ways, but I'm doing the actual research. I guess everyone deemed it a matter better left with the historian of the group. I am good at finding information and if worst comes to worst, I can always rely on you to get it out of them."
Zoro was taken aback by the comment, but one look at Chopper and he knew that this has happened more than one time. Not for the first time the man wondered how did it all come down to this.
Shaking his head fervently, the green haired man sprung into action.
"Where are you going?" Robin asked as she watched the time traveler scramble around for clothes. Of course, there were none.
Zoro's were bloodied enough from the fight and she hadn't been able to get around to washing them. She had assumed the man would be down for much more time, though Zoro's tenacity – whether past or future – has surprised them yet again.
"Outside, to Skypea, far away from here?" The man offered, his eye darting frantically left and right.
The archaeologist couldn't help but giggle. Seeing one of the most feared men in the world jump in place desperately in only his pajama pants was not something many had the chance to see... and live to remember it and maybe blackmail him with later.
"And I suppose you have a plan? Or at least directions?"
Her questions stopped Zoro short and he scratched his head. He hadn't exactly thought that far.
"Not yet, I didn't have the chance to think about that with all your stupid questions." He answered, scowling.
"Then I suppose you will be willing to consider mine." The archaeologist proposed, the smile never leaving her face.
Zoro stopped short, a sign that he was listening.
"As much as I don't mind having a conversation with your back, I must ask you to face us. It will be easier."
The green haired man felt the heat rise all the way to the tip of his ears. Goddamn that woman. Releasing an almighty huff, he dropped himself down on the bed and crossed his arms, waiting for Robin to continue.
"I had actually relayed this plan to your future self before the fight yesterday. He was confused and I doubt you'll fare much better, but your situation might have something to do with this."
The raw bluntness was not very welcomed, but the swordsman pinned it to Robin being Robin.
"I have discovered a few ancient writings on a partially secluded island in the Calm Belt. Despite the locals' refusal, I believe I had made myself clear to them that I needed to inspect those writings." The corner of her mouth twitched.
Zoro nodded that he understood.
"I thought Hancock would have been more willing to help us." Chopper remarked, absently playing with a roll of bandages.
"She wanted to." The raven head looked down at the reindeer. "But elder Nyon kept interrupting us. She said that those stone tablets didn't originally belong to Kuja Island, but were brought there during her mother's reign. Not doubting they were dangerous, the women there decided to keep them in a secluded cave out of everyone's reach. I only knew about that because Hancock decided to show them to me."
"So she's missing him, too." The doctor concluded sadly.
Despite being completely lost after these few sentences, Zoro understood the twitch of the woman's lips and her suddenly downcast expression.
"Indeed." She agreed softly before re-launching into her explanation. "After a thorough inspection I found out that they explain a piece of Raftel."
"Meaning?" A green eyebrow shot up.
"They explain about a part of the island to be exactly. You see, Raftel is not your ordinary island."
A derisive snort. "Obviously, the freaking One Piece is there."
"Yes." A smile. "That island is special and those tablets are telling us what those wonders are and how to operate or sidestep them if needed. Unfortunately, I figured that the writings belonging to Kuja Island would be of no help to us. They depicted something that I do not believe had anything to do with Luffy's disappearance."
"How are you so sure?" Zoro challenged. "You said you didn't know how Luffy disappeared."
"No, we didn't." The archaeologist agreed, leaning back in her chair. "But we know the place. Or rather, the ones that had searched for him have found a certain something on a rock near it."
Silence pressed from all sides before Zoro gave in.
"What was it?" He sighed. Talking to the woman was like playing a stupid guessing game with a five year old.
"A waterfall."
Something in his expression must have given away the incredulity he was feeling at that moment and Robin grinned slyly.
"I know it's a little anti-climatic, but I think a volcano wouldn't have done a better job, either."
The green haired man grunted.
"You see, waterfalls represent the flow of life."
"So let me guess this straight." Zoro leaned forward and intertwined his fingers.
A black eyebrow rose up in surprise. "Wasn't it 'get' this straight?"
"No." The man shook his head and sighed tiredly. "I can only guess at this point. You think," Robin blinked at the intense gaze in his eye, "that Luffy somehow stepped into that flow of life or whatever and disappeared."
The black haired woman startled him yet again with that cheeky grin she kept throwing at him.
"Indeed you have guessed right, Kenshi-san. Stepping into the flow of life equals a metaphorical death and a regaining of your sense of true self."
"And why would Luffy of all people want to regain something he doesn't need?" The swordsman chocked. Luffy was the bluntest, most straightforward person he had ever seen who couldn't lie or put up a mask to save his life. What would that honest as hell person want with the 'flow of life' was beyond him.
"You forget that this is not your captain we are talking about." Robin chided and he blinked. "Future Luffy is nothing like his past self. Many things have happened and all of us have changed accordingly. Our captain has been acting unnaturally subdued for almost a year before his disappearance and while we have tried many things to get him to open up to us, nothing had worked. It seems that it was a problem of internal nature and none of us had his approval in interfering with it, which meant that our captain was on his own. Unfortunately, we didn't realize this until very late and by then, there was nothing we could have done."
A hand ruffled green locks in frustration. "Alright, so what did you find out about that waterfall?"
Mirth danced in her eyes as she answered. "I've searched for these hidden tablets all over the Grand Line and the New World and I managed to find the ones I was looking for. They explain exactly what happens to the person who steps under the waterfall."
"What?" He asked absently, still conflicted over why Luffy had been suddenly compelled to take such drastic steps.
"What happened to you, too." Her confession threw him even more off course.
"But I didn't-"
"No, you didn't." Robin agreed quietly. "But Luffy did. And he sent you here, though we don't know why yet."
"Maybe he needed future Zoro's help?" Chopper asked innocently, looking up at the archaeologist in wonder.
"Anything is possible." The woman shrugged. "We don't know what our captain wants to do, but I wish to consider Kenshi-san's time travel as a sort of sign."
Zoro's head dropped in his hands and groaned. "Now I'm a freaking sign. What in the flipping hell is that idiot even thinking?!"
Robin couldn't help the amused giggle at the man's expense. Poor swordsman.
"What should we do, Robin?" The small doctor inquired impatiently, his thirst for action clearly visible by the continuous shifting on her lap. His wide eyes twinkled with hope and Robin found herself filled with it as well.
"I have a plan." She declared, snapping Zoro out of his miserable state of confusion.
He looked up and leveled her with a deadpan stare.
"But in the end it comes down to you... if you can do it."
"What? You think I can't do it?" The green haired man grunted, clearly up for the challenge.
"My plan includes you to fight, Kenshi-san."
At the promise of a fight, Zoro positively perched up and Robin sighed. He never changed.
"And you think I can't handle a fight?"
The man's words were intoned dangerously low to act as a threat and the raven head bit her lip from launching a snarky comment that could make him attack her. Even though such comments were commonplace between she and Zoro in the present, in Kenshi-san's time their relationship was strained enough as it was. No use in making him uncomfortable anyway.
"I do, but your body was hurt quite enough to put you into a state of unconsciousness when the adrenaline wore off. Not to mention that you haven't grasped the extent of power your body has now nor how to use Shuusui yet. That is why I asked you, Kenshi-san."
Zoro considered her words and scrunched up his nose in disdain when he realized she was right. His future self's body will feel different when he'll fight and he would bet that there were many new techniques he didn't know. Somehow, this thought made him uncomfortable enough to start asking himself the same questions Robin had earlier.
"Then we should stay a couple more days, right?" Chopper broke the imminent silence.
"No, I don't think that will be wise." The raven haired woman shook her head thoughtfully. "We should set sail tomorrow. If the wind is favorable, we'll arrive in Sabaody in a week. He would have had enough time to rest by then." She eyed Zoro critically.
The swordsman nodded, anxious to get out of the gloomy and cold palace. Even if it was supposedly his, he didn't like it. The resident doctor nodded, albeit a little reluctantly, and jumped on the bed next to Zoro, fussing over his now bloody bandages.
Robin threw one last smile at the exasperated man and made her exit. She needed time to think and plan.
"Are you sure your amazing plan will work?" Zoro droned, crossing his arms over his chest.
As they walked through the castle, he tried to occupy himself with something else besides the ominous sounds of their footsteps – it didn't help that Robin was wearing heels – and settled on eyeing his new clothes curiously. They were not so bad, though he hadn't thought of wearing a long coat before. He certainly appreciated the style, though.
"In here." She announced, opening the large double doors with a startling creak.
The room inside was no more lit than any other part of the castle and its bareness gave off a desolate feeling. Stepping on the dusty tile floor, Robin walked towards a table situated in front of a large bookcase. It was clean, save for two things placed on its surface.
Zoro stepped closer as well and realized he was looking at two hats. One was elaborate, with a wide brim and feathers while the other was simple and very familiar. He opened his mouth to speak, but Robin cut him off with a short glance.
"This is what they found near the waterfall."
The swordsman nodded uncertainly and turned to study the other one more closely. That hat was tugging at his memory, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Whose hat is this, then?"
The archaeologist's eyes flickered to the object for a moment before they locked on his only one. "It belonged to the late master of this castle. He happened to like hats as much as swords."
Zoro's eyebrow twitched, but through some other big fucking irony that his life was mostly known for, his mind flashed to a duel in East Blue he was still ashamed about and froze.
"Mihawk," he chocked the name out, "was my master?" His disbelief was quickly wiped off his face when Robin nodded quietly. "And he had this castle and I killed him?"
"And he gave you the castle." The woman finished, picking up the straw hat and dusting it off. "Yes, that was Mihawk. And now you are the world's Greatest Swordsman." She proceeded with the other hat as well before gingerly placing it back on the table. "Shall we go now? We have to set sail before nightfall."
Zoro's jaw still hung open, but trudged dutifully after Robin and towards the docks.
A/N: Yo :D
Oh look, another time travel story! I regret nothing xD (*has planned at least three other time travel fics*... nope, still nothing)
I hope you enjoyed this little chapter! I would say that because this is like the prologue, it's smaller, but I'm not sure how big the other chapters will turn out to be for the rest of this story so... yeah.
I'm in my last break before final exams and guess what I'm doing? Writing fanfiction. What should I be doing? Studying... probably.
Updates will be regular, at least for the next two weeks!
Please tell me what you think!
Reviews and Feedback are loved! o3o