Chapter 1

I climbed out of the water near the docks of the Marine town. I was careful that I wasn't seen getting out of the water. Readjusting my two katana at my left hip, I made my way into town. This was the closest island to where the whirlpool had swallowed the small boat that my captain and I were in. You see, I'm a pirate, but not the ones that seek to kill and destroy. At the moment, there is only my captain, Monkey D. Luffy, and I in the crew, but we were looking for more people to join; 'were' being the operative word, since I'm separated from my captain.

Going with a gut feeling, I began to head towards the docks. Even though I couldn't always follow directions, I could always find my way towards water. The wind blew around my waist length, silver hair as I approached the water, and I saw that a small boat had just arrived. I smiled as I saw a familiar straw hat, and hear his shout of joy.

"Luffy!" I called out to him. He turned to me with confusion on his face, but that quickly changed to joy upon seeing me.

"Luna!" Luffy exclaimed, and ran over to me tackling me in a hug. I hugged back just as eagerly; it was nice to have my best friend and captain back. When we let go, I heard a timid voice speak up.

"Um Luffy, who is that?"

I looked around my friend, and found myself looking at a younger boy with pink hair and glasses. I smiled at him, and waved at him. "The name's Luna D. River. Nice to meet you and you are?"

The kid seemed to just stare at me, before snapping out of it and blushed. "Uh, my name's Koby."

"Cool," I said, and then turned my attention back to the straw hat. "So, what have you been doing?"

Luffy began to explain, with Koby occasionally contributing, and soon, I knew about why they were on the island; to find the swordsman, Roronoa Zoro. I had heard about him before, but had never met him. The three of us were walking through town, the two boys caught in conversation while I was too engrossed in my thoughts to really pay any attention. I wondered about what he was really like, and not the front he let everyone else see. Luffy wanted to see if he would join his crew.

Soon, we found ourselves in front of the Marine base gate. Luffy walked up to it to see if he could see Zoro.

"Luffy! What are you doing?! Get down! They'll see you!" Koby yelled.

"Can you see him Luffy?" I asked, not really wanting to climb the wall if I didn't have to.

"They wouldn't keep him out in the open," Koby told us. "They probably have him in a cell underground."

"There he is!" Luffy exclaimed, and he jumped down from the wall. "I'm gonna get a closer look."

I followed behind him, eager to see this swordsman. I climbed the wall next to Luffy, and looked across the yard. They boys started to talk again, but I wasn't paying attention. I was too mesmerized by the sight in front of me. There was a man tied to a cross that was wearing a white shirt that showed off his muscles, a green haramaki around his waist, black pants, and black boots. He also wore a black bandana around his head that shadowed his eyes, similar to my own, and had three gold earrings in his left ear. The voice of the man in front of me brought me back to reality.

"Hey, you three, you're an eyesore," his deep voice rumbled. "Get lost."

I had to resist the shiver that ran down my spine at the sound of his voice. Koby started to talk to Luffy again, but I wasn't paying any attention. I was too focused with the fact that Zoro was looking right at me. His dark eyes were shaded by his bandana on his head, but they stared into my vibrant yellow eyes. Even from this distance, I could still see a sliver of slight recognition.

I was the first to look away, seeing something come into my peripheral vision. When I looked down, I saw a little brunette girl sliding down a rope and she ran right up to Zoro, seemingly unafraid of him. Koby was yelling something about her being killed by Zoro or the Marines. I watched as she offered him two rice balls she had made for him. But, apparently, Zoro didn't want them.

"Do not make me kick your ass little girl!" he yelled at her.

"Now, now, Zoro, no one likes a bully," a voice said. I watched as three men walked into the yard. The man in the middle had blonde hair in a mushroom hair cut, and he wore a purple suit. A marine stood on either side of him.

"Hey, look, now there's another weird guy," Luffy said, slightly annoyed. I only giggled at his assessment of the situation. Leave it to Luffy to put things in the simple terms. Koby said something about the girl being safe because of the Marines being there, but I wasn't too sure about that.

"I don't know Koby," I muttered to him. I always trusted my instincts, and always listened to my gut feelings. And right now, I was having a really bad feeling about this.

Just then, the man in the purple suit grabbed one of the rice balls that the little girl was holding. After he spit it out and yelled about it being too sweet, the man grabbed the other rice ball, and began to stomp on in. The little girl began to tear up at seeing her hard work being treated that way, and I growled quietly at the when the scent of the salty water hit my nose. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked to see Luffy giving me a look that said not to get involved. I sighed and nodded slightly at him.

When we looked back at the scene in front of us, the man in the suit had pulled out a piece of paper from his jacket, and was reading from it. "Those who assist criminals in any way will be executed, signed Marine Captain Morgan." The little girl seemed to panic at the mention of the captain, and the guy laughed. "It seems that even little brats fear my daddy."

"His daddy?" Luffy repeated.

"So, his father is Captain Morgan?" Koby asked putting the pieces together.

I just tilted my head to the side, something I did when I was confused or analyzing something. "What grown man calls their father 'daddy'?" Luffy started to giggle at my question and Koby just looked at me exasperatedly. "What? I'm serious."

"You," the man in the suit said, pointing to one of the Marine soldiers. "Toss this kid out right now." The soldier hesitated, not wanting to follow the order. "I said throw her over the wall soldier. Now, if you won't follow my orders, I'll tell my father."

The Marine seemed to become even more scared at that. "Yes, sir, I'll do it."

"Luffy," I whispered apprehensively.

Luffy nodded, understanding what I was trying to say. "I got it."

Suddenly, the little girl was flung over the wall above our heads. I grabbed Luffy's hat as he let go of the wall, and stretched his arms to grab the girl and hold her to him as they landed. I kept watching Zoro interact with the man in the purple suit. I felt the straw hat being taken from my hand and looked down to see Luffy. He smiled at me before climbing the wall again, and jumping over it, me following after him.

"So, I hear you're a bad guy," Luffy said, getting Zoro's attention and made him look up at us.

"Are you still here?" Zoro asked in annoyance.

"You're stuck our here for all the world to see, and nothin'. You really all that strong?" Luffy wondered, beginning to walk up to the tied up swordsman. I followed after him at his side.

"Mind your own business!" Zoro shouted.

Luffy put a hand on his hat and smiled. "If I were you, I'd probably starve to death in three days."

I gave a short laugh at that. "Knowing you, it's more like two days Luffy."

Apparently, when I spoke it made Zoro realize that I was there, because he looked at me in surprise. Luffy laughed and looked at me. "Yeah, you're probably right."

Zoro grinned at the both of us. "I've got more sprit than you could ever have, which is how I'm going to survive this ordeal; this I swear."

Luffy took at moment to process this. "Ha! What a weirdo!"

I only sighed at him. "Your one to talk about being weird Luffy." Luffy smiled at me, and then turned to leave with a wave over his shoulder to Zoro.

"Wait hold on," Zoro said, which made Luffy stop and turn back around. "Could you pick that up for me?" He looked down at the destroyed rice ball that the little girl made for him.

Luffy bent down and picked it up. "You're gonna eat this? 'Cause it's mostly a ball of mud."

"Shut up and give it to me!" Zoro shouted at him. "Now!" Zoro opened his mouth, and Luffy threw it in. He began to eat it, and started coughing a little when he swallowed.

"Should have listened to me," Luffy sang.

"It was good," Zoro said, bowing his head a little. "Thanks for the food."

Luffy smiled and looked at me. I smiled back, and we both began to walk back towards the wall. I turned around to look at Zoro one last time, and found that he was staring right at me. I blushed and let my red bandana on my head shadow my eyes, before quickly following after Luffy over the wall.

*Water Compass*

"Really?" the little girl, Rika, asked us.

I was standing next to Luffy, who was sitting on top of a barrel. We had met back up with Koby and the little girl, and told them what had happened with Zoro. When we told Rika what Zoro said about her rice ball, her eyes lit up and a smile spread across her face. I smiled down at her.

"That's right," Luffy told her with a smile.

"He ate every last grain of rice there was," I finished for Luffy.

Rika clasped her hands in front of her and smiled. "That's great."

Koby, who was sitting on some steps, looked almost depressed. "I wonder if Zoro is really as evil as everyone thinks that he is."

"He's not!" Rika yelled at Koby. "He's good, because he got himself punished for us."

"You're, uh, you're making no sense," Luffy said staring at her.

"Sorry, it's that dumb Helmeppo. He's the son of Captain Morgan…" Rika then began to tell the story of how Helmeppo challenged Zoro to be strung up instead of Rika and her mother. I thought that it was incredibly brave of him, and it showed that he had real honor. You can't find that too often now a day.

"It's been three weeks since that day…" Rika continued. "Helmeppo keeps punching and kicking him while he's tied up. He's being so unfair! I don't [hick] I don't know how to help him."

"I see why you're upset," Koby said.

It made me angry at how he was being treated, and I clenched my fists. I looked at Luffy to see him staring at the sky with an unreadable expression. However, I knew Luffy better than anyone, and I knew that look. He was thinking about the day Shanks risked himself to save him.

There was a crash heard from inside Rika's mother's dinner, and we all went to see what it was. When we walked in, Helmeppo was sitting at one of the tables with two Marines standing stiffly behind him. "I'm trying to think of something interesting to do, seeing as I'm bored out of my skull here," he was saying, while Rika's mother poured him a drink. "I suppose I could execute Zoro." He then began to laugh.

That made me angry, and I was about to run forward, but Luffy beat me too it. He lunged forward and punched Helmeppo in the face, making Helmeppo crash into the far wall. Koby ran forward and attempted to hold Luffy back. I only reached down and picked up Luffy's straw hat that had fallen to the ground when he leapt forward. I stood and watched as Koby continued to hold Luffy back, while Helmeppo and the Marines left the dinner.

"Luna!" Luffy called, and I looked up at him. "I've made up my mind. Today, Zoro joins our crew."

The look in his eyes left no room for argument, and I agreed whole heartedly with him. I smiled and nodded firmly back at him. I held out his hat to him as I walked up to him, and he took it from my hand, putting it on his head. We began to walk out of the dinner towards the Marine base with determination in our steps.