Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. I own Kage though.

"Speaking"

'thinking'

-Prologue-

It was a day just like any other for everyone else except two small people who stood in the middle of the forest. The girl had been pushed into a puddle of mud by some boys. Her green haired friend stood next to her scaring said boys away from her. The boy was normal looking except for the rare color of hair and looked like he could take care of himself. The girl however looked weak and frail. Her skin that was not covered in mud had a sickly white color to it and she looked like she hadn't been eating well.

"Why do you always have to protect me?" Said the little girl covered in mud from head to toe with her head down. Her voice was low and sounded annoyed yet gave off anger at the same time. It was hard to to tell with how low and quiet her voice was.

"What's your problem? If I don't fight off those bullies you could have been seriously hurt!" Shouted the green haired boy who was now a few feet away to pick up his wooden sword. His face was scrunched up as he glared at the girl.

"I want to be able to stand up for myself...and protect others. How am I.. ever going to do that...if you keep protecting me." She said getting up from the puddle shaking as she does so.

The sky had been getting dark quickly. Dark clouds covered the sky and some lightning flashed through it giving immediate warning of the storm to come. It drizzled a little here and a little there all day. Now though the rain came down like a normal rain would; it wasn't drizzling and it wasn't pouring. At least not yet it wasn't.

"I made Sensai a promise that I would protect you from the bullies. Ok." The boy said loudly taking a few step towards the girl slamming his on the ground. The rain started to come down faster hitting them both. You could now see the girls violet colored hair that looked black the more and more the mud got washed away by the rain.

" No it's not ok. I don't care if you made a promise- you can't always protect me. I need to learn how to protect myself and not be so damn weak all the time." She was shaking all over from anger. She had taken a few steps away from him. Her breathing had noticeably gone rigid almost like she was crying. The rain making it hard to tell.

"YOU. IDIOT. YOUR TO WEAK TO PROTECT YOURSELF, KAGE!" Yelled the green haired boy without thinking how those words would affect her. After a few moment of an uneasy silence did he realise what he said. He unclenched his fist that he clenched when he yelled at her. His eyes showed he was sorry, but when he was going to verbally say it she spoke cutting him off.

"I vow." Kage said in a raspy voice with her head still down.

"Ka-."

"I vow." Her voice louder than before cutting him off once more. She raised her head up and you could see her almost hawk-amber like eyes filled with an unknown emotion.

"I VOW. I'LL BECOME STRONGER AND BE ABLE TO PROTECT MYSELF AND OTHERS. THEN WILL SEE WHO'S THE WEAK ONE. RORONOA ZOLO." She shouted his name with such venom it stung him. Thunder and lightning flashed and sounded through out the sky accompanied by the pouring rain.

Kage turned around and ran from him into the surrounded woods leaving a shocked Zolo looking at her retreating form. They had many fights before but none of them as bad as this one. People watching would think it was a regular fight and they'll be back to normal together. If you knew them like they knew each other you wouldn't think the same. Kage knew that and so did Zolo. Kage ran and ran not looking back and passed the dojo where her Sensai was standing with an umbrella, but she didn't stop.

"Kage?" Sensai said haven't an arm out to try and stop her, but she was to quick.

'I'm sorry but I have to do this.' "Good-bye Sensai." She called out and continued running. To where she didn't know she did know however it was not here.

'Kage.' Sensai thought looking at her with sadness in his eyes knowing full well what she was doing.

Zolo was slowly making his way to the dojo thinking about the previous events. He knew he really messed up, but hoped it didn't mess with their friendship. Sadly, Zolo was unaware that earlier was going to be the last time he would ever see her for a long time.

AN: I hope you all liked it and thank you for reading. If you like review if you don't please make your way to the next story on you list. I'm so glad I finally posted this up because I had to keep changing things in the story because I didn't want to seem like I was copying people. If I do I am sorry.