AN: This is an AU by tumblr user baratiepromise and I. There's more to it, but I don't plan on writing anything more, since it's long enough that it'd be a lot of commitment. If you're so desperate for more, you can try sending an ask to me on tumblr at asexualzoro. If this story continued it would eventually be zolu but at this point it's really just friendship, so take that as you will.
A worn black truck rumbled through the street, a moving trailer pulled behind it. Zoro had been driving for a few hours now, and after a few wrong turns along the way he was positive this was the right place. It looked the same from the pictures he'd seen, the little houses and stores all matching up. It was a tiny fishing town, mostly ignored by tourists despite the fact it boasts a number of nice beaches as there were bigger towns with nicer beaches. Zoro knew his house was farther out from the more populated streets, the moving truck might've even still been there to show him where he was going if he was lucky.
Zoro's eyes scanned the town around him, mostly empty at this time of day. It was so early in the morning that the town still seemed to be asleep, but Zoro wasn't tired. The truck approached the center of town and a large statue caught Zoro's eye. It was about ten feet tall including the concrete pedestal it was set up on. Made of rusting iron was the figure of what appeared to be a merman. He was reaching up above himself, tail curled at the base and face curled into a cruel grin. The merman had short hair, sharp teeth, and Zoro could just see a scar under the statue's eye. Zoro couldn't read the sign on the side of the pedestal as he drove by it, but he would have to go look at it later. As the statue grew smaller in his rear view mirror, Zoro felt curiosity tugging at the back of his mind. The merman had his attention, that was for sure.
Zoro's house was an old wooden building above a cliff. It had been empty for a while, the last owner had drowned suddenly and, luckily for Zoro, it had been left with a fair amount of furniture. The place had been cheap, which was surprising as the cliff it rested on looked over a beautiful and secluded beach. Zoro couldn't imagine any reason for the place to be so inexpensive, but he wasn't going to complain. Zoro rolled up to it only a few minutes after passing the statue. Before he could look into that, though, he had to unpack his truck.
Black boots crunched on the gravel driveway for almost an hour as Zoro unloaded boxes from his trailer. The movers he'd hired had come and gone, leaving Zoro's home full of boxes of what he had sent ahead. The town woke up as Zoro moved in, and Zoro became aware of someone approaching. He didn't really have neighbors, his house was far from others in town because he'd wanted a place with privacy. Someone from town must've come to greet him regardless.
Zoro held a box to his hip and waved, but the approaching person seemed too solemn to notice. The expression was unfitting for greeting a new neighbor.
"You're the one moving in here?" the person asked, stopping in front of Zoro. He was a man, old enough that his hair had started going grey.
"That would be me," Zoro said. The man didn't look happy, his face a mix of mourning and fear. Is he afraid of Zoro? Why would he seek Zoro out if he was? "Something wrong?"
"Don't go to that beach alone," the man said, pointing to the beach Zoro's home overlooked. "It isn't safe. You'll be drowned."
"I'm not a bad swimmer, I'll be fine," Zoro said. The guy came all this way to tell him he needed a lifeguard?
"No, there's a monster in that water. He'll get you if you go in there. If you value your life, don't swim. Steer clear of the beach altogether if you can," the man said.
"A monster? I'm a little old for fairy tales," Zoro said. The man must've been a sailor, they were known for their superstition.
"This is no fairy tale. It's killed at least three dozen people over the past few years," the man said "The thing looks unassuming with its pretty tail and all, but it'll kill you and dump your body on the shore."
"Tail?" Zoro asked.
"Yeah, it's got a tail like a koi. Very beautiful, all red and white..." the man said "But don't let it fool you. It'll drag you under the water if you aren't careful."
Zoro recognized the description, but just barely. It reminded him of that statue from before.
"Is that what that big statue is of?" Zoro asked, gesturing towards the town.
"You saw it coming in?" The man asked "Yeah, it's of the monster, though it's a memorial. On its base is the name of everyone it's drowned so far. It targets kids and teens, gets them to the water and pulls them under. Then it leaves the corpses on the shore for someone else to find. Like it's killing them for sport."
"Thanks for the warning." Zoro says, nodding. "I'll keep it in mind."
"You better. I'd hate to see them add another name to that plaque."
The man turned and walked off, leaving Zoro to unload the rest of his truck.
It took only three days for Zoro to ignore the man's warning. The beach was quiet and uninviting to townsfolk, so Zoro thought it would be a perfect place to train. He could be uninterrupted for hours, everyone else far too superstitious for their own good. Zoro was sure that the "monster" was just the creation of grieving townspeople who wanted something to blame for the loss of kids who couldn't swim. Though even if it were true and there really was some murderous creature in the water, Zoro wasn't worried. He was fairly sure he could take it on if he needed to.
Zoro's private beach was at the bottom of the cliff. The rocks reached around ten feet above the water, trapping in not only the beach but several dozen feet out into the water in the form of large, jetty-like cliffs. They formed a U-shaped cove, and Zoro was fairly sure they were natural. The only manmade part he could tell was the a path leading down from the top of the cliff only a few feet from Zoro's house. Zoro found there to be a small blockade at the top of the path on the first visit, but he moved it aside easily. No superstitious old men would stop him from training on the beach.
Zoro carried a box of weights down to the sand, figuring he could just leave them down there considering how scared everyone else was of the mythical mermonster in the water. He went down every day for hours, spending his time on the sand training or sleeping. He rarely went into the water, and never went deep. Though not one for urban legends, his gut told him not to venture too far into the water. Something about it felt off.
What felt most off about the cove was a feeling Zoro noticed after about a week of training there. He felt he was being watched, but the cliff hosted no spying eyes above him and the water held no observing boats. Boats avoided this cove like the plague the way swimmers avoided the beach. Zoro ignored the feeling, but it was constantly present. It only got stronger as time went on. Zoro took to watching around him as he trained, looking for the source of his feeling. Just as he was about to brush it off as paranoia, he noticed something moving in the water. Zoro only caught a flash of red and it was gone.
Another three days went by. Zoro had seen more of the red flashes in the water, but he had yet to figure out what they were. Zoro didn't know what it was, but at the back of his mind the old man's description of the merman was pulling at his imagination. A red tailed merman, that was the monster's appearance. That was impossible, though Zoro couldn't help but wonder...
Zoro dropped the weights in his hands and approached the water. When water was halfway up his shins, he stopped and cupped his hands to his mouth like a megaphone.
"If you're out there, show yourself!" Zoro yelled.
Silence answered his call. Zoro's arms fell to his sides. After a moment, he raised them to call out again.
"Come on!" Zoro yelled. He was starting to feel a little stupid, standing in the water and shouting at an old wive's tale. Just as he was about to turn around, a head popped up from the water.
Zoro will forever deny it scared him, or that he jumped, but he won't deny how surprising it was to hear the merman laugh for the first time. He grinned, and it looked nothing like the statue. He seemed, for all intents and purposes... normal. The short hair and scar matched that of the statue, but he didn't seem malicious.
"I like your hair," the merman said. He ducked under a moment to move closer, so he was only about a yard in front of Zoro. When he came up again, Zoro noticed gills on his neck.
"My hair?" Zoro asked. He hadn't really known what to expect from an apparent monster, but compliments definitely weren't it. Though shocked, Zoro still had the sense to back away from him. If he noticed, he said nothing. Zoro was only up to his ankles in the water, it would be hard for the merman to pull him under like this.
"Yeah, your hair. It's green, like plants. I've never seen humans with green hair before," the merman said. He ducked under again, surfacing again when his stomach was on the sand. He was right in front of Zoro this time, and he propped his head up above the water with his hands. Zoro could see clear, reddish fins along the side of his arms.
"My name's Luffy. What's yours?" the merman asked. Up close, Zoro could see sharp teeth in Luffy's smile. He still seemed genuine, somehow, even with his gruesome mouth.
"Zoro. Roronoa Zoro," Zoro said. He backed out of the water entirely now. The smile slipped off Luffy's face.
"Are you leaving already?" Luffy asked. He moves up even more, pulling himself to the sand. His tail-red and white like a koi, just as the old man said-was still in the water, but his torso was only in water when hit by waves.
"I'm not stupid," Zoro said, figuring he should just cut to the chase. He never liked beating around the bush. "I know what you're after."
"You do? Then why're you leaving?" Luffy asks. "We can't be friends if you leave."
"Friends?" Zoro asked. Luffy nodded.
"I've tried asking people before, but once they agree to come with me, they always fall asleep," Luffy said "Isn't that rude? Who falls asleep after agreeing to play with someone?"
"You thought they fell asleep?" Zoro asked.
"Well, yeah. What else would they be doing?" Luffy asked. "I always leave them back on shore so they know when they are when they wake up, but none of them ever come back. They're supposed to come back, though. A lot of them said they would, too! But none of them ever came back, and now no one comes at all. It's... lonely."
As Luffy talked, Zoro realized that it must have never occurred to a fish like Luffy that there were creatures who couldn't swim. The merman wasn't a monster, and the story of the town was not one of horror. If anything, it was a tragedy. Luffy didn't seem to have anyone, and he didn't understand what he'd done. He couldn't have been much younger than Zoro... Luffy was around 17, if Zoro had to guess. If he'd been doing it over a few years, a few of them had to have happened when Luffy was a child. He didn't want to tell Luffy about drowning. Zoro wasn't sure how he'd take the truth of what he'd done. No, Zoro would keep his thoughts to himself.
"...I can be your friend," Zoro said. Luffy's face lit up.
"Really? That's awesome! Can we go swim-"
"But," Zoro said, cutting Luffy off before Luffy could say anything more "I don't like the water that much. I won't go swimming with you. If you try pulling me under regardless, I won't come back ever again."
It was a lie, Zoro loved the water. However, he didn't want to risk Luffy pulling him under. And Luffy would pull him under, if given the chance, though Zoro wasn't lying when he said he wouldn't come back if Luffy did.
Luffy, in his own head, barely took a moment to consider the condition Zoro laid out. He had lived by himself for years, and he hated being alone more than anything. If Zoro would be his friend, he'd accept any rules.
"Deal!" Luffy said, tail splashing in the water with excitement. "We're going to be great friends. And don't worry, I'll make sure you like the water soon and then we can play. I can even show you where I live!"
Zoro just nodded, sitting down in the sand just out of Luffy's reach. He'd have to be careful around Luffy, that was for sure. Though Zoro thought-hoped?-it would be worth it. Luffy interested him, and Zoro found himself wanting to get to know him. Zoro knew it would be the start of an undeniably dangerous friendship. If Zoro let his guard down, Luffy could very well kill him without even knowing he was dead. But so long as Zoro was careful, what could go wrong?