AN: Sorry, sorry, sorry. I know that I have been away for an absolute age, but I am back with a chapter that has taken me two years to write almost down to the day. I have had a very full two years of heart ache and pain and have not had a want to write anything of note. I have a few more pieces of this one written, but I could never get this whole date thing written I started it and loved it and then hated it and left it. Since I have made a resolution to write something everyday (18 days in still going strong) I have finally managed to find the love I had for this story I started again and got the date complete.

This chapter lays down a lot of the AU back story which is closely linked to the cannon, but its needed if Zoro and Robin are ever going to get beyond making eyes at each other in the library.

It likely is an editing nightmare so bare with me.

Thanks! xxx


"I have never been here," Nico said on a sigh as they walked in to The Baratie half an hour later, "I thought you had to make reservations six months in advance to get a table here?" She asked as she looked around in awe.

"Well that stupid lanky ass love-cook comes in handy for something at least, Zeff the owner and head chef is his mentor so..." but he didn't get to finish his thought as a voice boomed across the room.

"Boy where have you been?!" Zoro looked panicked for a second and when Nico looked in the direction of the voice she understood why. The man who shouted was huge with long blonde plaits serving as a moustache. He wore chef whites that made him look even more imposing and he had a false right leg. Not that you would have guessed from the way he walked across the room. He spanned the distance between them with quick and agile steps and grabbed Zoro in a bear hug that made his bones crack loudly. "That good for nothing Sanji told you that you were no longer welcome here, huh?" Zoro said nothing as the man just talked at him. "So who is this charming little lady that I am sure Sanji has already tried to sweet talk away from you since he is walking womanising trash!" That is one way to put it Nico thought as she felt more than a little uncomfortable.

"This is Nico Robin," Zoro mumbled and the man boomed a laugh slapping Zoro on the back so hard that he stumbled.

"Would this be the mysterious crush that Sanji always gripes about when he is supposed to be doing work?" Zoro nodded a little and the man took her hand lightly in his and his hand swamped hers with its sheer size. "Welcome to my restaurant young lady, I am Zeff." He said with soft authority before led her through the restaurant with Zoro trailing behind them. "As you are a friend of Marimo here I will give you the best seats in the house." He finished and when Zeff referred to Zoro as Marimo she saw Zoro grind his teeth and scratch his head in a way that Nico realised was a show of awkward anger.

Zeff pushed the doors to the kitchen open and pointed them to a small table off to the side of the other chefs in a space at the back of the preparation area. As they sat down Zoro pulled out the chair for her and it made her blush, no man had ever treated her that way before.

"What's good here?" She asked and Zoro grinned before there was another boom of laughter.

"The better question to ask would be what isn't good here?" Zeff said as he placed two water glasses on the table. "But sweet heart," he said with a drawl of a country she didn't know, "Me and my men will serve you the best of what we have," Nico raised her eyebrows over at Zoro and he just shrugged. The pair sat in a comfortable silence that she didn't feel she needed to fill while Zeff and his men danced around them making all the orders. Nico sat watching Zoro while his eyes darted between all the actions around them never missing a beat. In that moment she could tell that he would be excellent at kendo as he seemed to take everything in, even the smallest amount of movement wasn't too far from his notice.

When their food finally arrived Nico was astounded; everything was so beautiful! Zoro glanced at her and grinned as he lifted up his fork nodding to her.

"Please enjoy," Zeff said with an air of pride before he went back to shouting at his staff for not working hard enough and Nico could swear she heard him call them all, "lazy land lubbers", but no one talked like that anymore surely.

"So how do you like the food?" Zoro asked her a little while later,

"It's amazing, thank you for asking me to come out," Zoro shook his head slightly.

"No thank you for being willing to come here with me." Nico felt a distinctive flutter in her chest, maybe she had been wrong and the image he put forward was just because he wasn't sure of himself around other people. Sure he looked like a thug with the gold earrings that clinked when he moved and the short green hair, but in this case she thought looks could be deceiving.

"Don't mention it," she replied softly and saw a slow smirk curl his almost cruel lips. "Why did you choose economics?" Nico found herself asking with genuine interest. Zoro laughed,

"It's not really that interesting a story," the line didn't seem to deter Nico, she placed her chin on an upturned hand and smiled softly at Zoro.

"Humour me," she teased her eyes sparkling as she tilted her head more. Zoro paused eating his food, placing his cutlery softly on the table before him.

"You don't get paid all that much doing kendo professionally, so I enjoy maths as its as accurate and precise as kendo and I like money and where it can get you. Economics gives me that." He looked down at his plate and looked almost sheepish, "I bet that made me seem really uncool..." Nico giggled, the girlish sound coming from the woman caught Zoro off guard. He looked up and Nico slid her hand in to his squeezing it a little and raising his heart rate.

"I think it's cute."

"Oh?" Zoro asked and Nico nodded,

"How do you know all of them?" Nico asked as her fingertips ran along Zoro's knuckles making Zoro almost shiver. When he didn't answer right away she carried on, "They don't look like they all do economics."

"Ah, that," Zoro responded rubbing his free hand along the back of his neck. "We are all in the kendo team."

"Kendo?" Nico asked, "Now I really need to know the story," she grinned as Zeff reached the table again with desert,

"Well I really like kendo," Zoro explained and then went quiet. Nico watched him carefully as she played with her spoon contemplating the soufflé before her, "I wasn't going to join the team here, I had played a lot at High School, I won a few national championships," Nico was amazed that he didn't sound arrogant as he told her, it was refreshing to have someone tell the truth without embellishment, "I came here and wanted to study more than anything, I still went to the dojo each day to train, but I wasn't going to do anymore national championships until I had finished my course…" he paused as if to gather his thoughts, "But then I met him," he stated as if that explained everything. He glanced at the wall before turning back to her violet eyes. "I had been at the university for about a month and I came across some kid beating up a little girl, he was scum. He thought that he could get away with it because his dad was on the board of directors and that no one would stop him." He paused again his gaze becoming dark, "He was wrong, I put him in the hospital." Nico's eyes got wide,

"Really?" she asked letting go of Zoro's hand the shock on her face was almost painful for him to see.

"I'm not proud of it, but yeah, I knocked him unconscious after he had done the same to the girl. His father didn't press charges as he didn't see the point." He rubbed his eyes letting out a sigh. "Instead he made my life a living hell, he locked me up in his classroom when I wasn't in class. It was like being chained up in a prison yard with no end in sight," he shook his head as he got lost in the memory, "I was in there after class one day and the window opened, the little girl came in with a big goofy smile on her face, she'd made me dinner." He took a spoonful of desert his face twisting in disgust, it was clear he wasn't a big fan of chocolate; the thought for some reason made her smile. "She had made onigiri and used sugar instead of salt, it was adorable," he caught himself and sighed, "She scurried out before the guy's dad came back in, but she was soon followed by the team captain." He glanced at Nico and saw her staring at him her eyes warm and not as scared as they had been a few minutes before. "He clambered through the window all arms and legs and stood before me. I had no idea who he was, but a kind wearing cut off shorts and a straw hat really stands out as someone that is a really strange person. Somehow he knew about me beating up the board member's idiot son and wanted me to join his kendo team as he needed a fighter like me." He laughed, "I still don't think he really understands what kendo really is, but he has a way about him you know, he draws you in. I ended up agreeing, making a promise that I will become the strongest swordsman to his pirate king,"

"What on earth is a pirate king?" Nico asked, Zoro chuckled darkly,

"This is one thing you should know about Luffy; he doesn't always make a lot of sense." Nico leant to the side again and Zoro felt himself grin, "Humour you?" he asked and Nico nodded,

"I have all night if you do," she flirted idly, Zoro gulped feeling sweat prick across the nape of his neck. He cleared his throat nervously and laughed a little,

"It's been a dream since he was small, from what I know of Luffy. It's the only reason he is alive today." Nico thought that was a bizarre thing for Zoro to say, what could he mean by that comment, she was about to ask him to explain as he took a long drink of the bottle of beer that had appeared on the table, "Luffy comes from a small village on the outskirts of town, it is renowned for being a hideout for the most nefarious of gangs;" He paused again and Nico realised that he did that each time he had to collect his thoughts as if he was worried that he would say something that was stupid if he didn't think things over. "For the longest time it was the hideout for Shanks and his men, you may have heard of them?" Zoro looked across the table and Nico shook her head, "I think the best way to describe them is that they are like that legend that came from England, about that man that stole from the rich and gave to the poor?"

"Robin Hood?" Nico inserted grinning at the green haired man opposite her who was nodding absentmindedly.

"Shanks was a scoundrel, but he had honour, he was Luffy's idol." He scratched his head, "He was really in to high stakes band hacking, he would break the firewalls and remove all the money of the rich fat cats and would route it in to charitable foundations, to this day he hasn't been caught,"

"So is he the Pirate King?" Nico asked, not entirely sure she was ever going to understand Zoro's friends,

"No, no, not at all," Zoro laughed, "But he tired once, the Pirate King is the hacker that can steal the most money in the smallest amount of time its called the One Piece, they hold the competition each year at Grand Line, Luffy is going to become the Pirate King one day he is sure of it," Zoro grinned, "But until that day we will keep winning kendo championships and taking on the bad guys," Nico raised her brow, but Zoro shook his head, "Safer for you not to know, plausible deniability." He shrugged his shoulders making Nico more interested, "Do you still want to know about the others?" when Nico nodded he took another long drink of the beer finishing the bottle in three swallows. "We found Nami in the store room of the dojo one day after practice, she was running away from an abusive boyfriend, he went by the name of Arlong, he was a brattish Yakuza wannabe, used Nami to infiltrate other gangs and bleed them of all their money, when she was hiding in the storeroom she was on the run from Buggy, a street thug with no manners and a really bad case of showmanship. Arlong had thought that it would be a good group to take in to his own, but Nami got wise to his scheme and accidentally started a gang war. She was running and saw the dojo and knowing that none of the people she associated with would think of such a place she hid there. When Luffy and I finally found her; she had been there for three days."

"How did she join?" Nico inquired as she finished the last of her soufflé, Zoro seeing that she had finished hers slid his across to her,

"I don't like chocolate so feel free to eat it," he smiled and Nico blushed, she couldn't believe that he had noticed her eyeing up his desert as she finished her own. She would have to remember that, it seemed that Zoro didn't miss a beat. "As to Nami after we freed her from her boyfriend, she decided that the kendo team… if you can call it that, needed a manager." He smiled and Nico felt her heart race at the self-deprecation she saw there. Her old boyfriend had always been conceited and had taken what he had wanted, he was nothing like the man sat opposite her. "She isn't too bad with a shinai either; when push comes to shove. She started at the University with us after Luffy hacked in to Arlong's bank account and bled it dry, donating all the money he had amassed by being a loan shark to a charity for child cancer. She is amazing at geography and she has a dream of becoming a cartographer and drawing maps; each time we have a meet that is outside the city she can be found making maps of the area that we are visiting. She has a great talent." Zoro stopped for a second, then in a blink of an eye he leant across the table and rubbed a piece of cake off the corner of her lips and then sucking his thumb before Nico could even open her mouth in protest. "I feel like I have told you everything about me," he commented his eyes hooded, "You have yet to tell me anything about you," his voice was soft, but Nico could feel the underlying threat in it, it was subtle, but it was there making her take a second look at the man at the man across from her.

"I'm not all that interesting," Zoro tilted his head to the side and smiled, Nico knew exactly what he was asking and almost laughed, "I still need to hear about the other team members," she hedged and Zoro nodded as if conceding, to an unspoken point; he nodded,

"Ussop was a cowardly kid that had a bunch of other kids followed around. He was infatuated with this sickly rich girl who was swindled by her butler. We found him in an alley with his followers after he had tried to take down the butler, did you ever hear of the con man called Kuro?" Nico shook her head, "He was well known for the long con, the girl was the heir to a fortune and her parents had recently been lost to illness when he started working as her butler. He was a piece of work."

"Let me guess," Nico surmised, "You, Luffy and Nami took him down and because he was now on his own Ussop joined you guys," Zoro grinned,

"Are we that predictable?" he asked knowing the answer,

"There is a pattern," she told him her voice a sexy drawl.

"Well Sanji we sort of stumbled on, Luffy got hungry one day as we walked by this place. Zeff told Sanji that he should go to the university to learn hospitality, as it is something her is lacking in." He turned his face away an evil grin on his face, "He has a temper that he can really harness on the team. Chopper we found in the mascot club and because he interested Luffy so much he became the kendo team's mascot. We have more members of course, but as we are the founder's no one else seems to think there are anyone else of the team." Nico found herself laughing at that, she could see it now the six of them walking in to a national championship and the crowd silencing in awe and fear. She had no idea if Luffy or Sanji could fight, but she knew from the look in eyes of the man opposite her that he would not let himself be defeated by another person. Nico saw that Zoro was about to open his mouth, but as soon as he did Zeff appeared and the Nordic giant looked a little unhappy,

"Still not eating chocolate eggplant?" He growled his nostrils flaring and his plaited moustache twitching,

"What of it old geezer, I keep telling you I don't like it!" He scratched the back of his head and sighed, "Just because you force it on me any chance you get, doesn't mean I am going to like it anymore." He motioned to Nico his eyes scorching as he gave her the once over, "I don't see the lady complaining over the extra helping, so I think you should be happy old man." Zeff grunted and put his hand on the table his knuckles white,

"You and that shitty kid are so alike,"

"Don't put me with him!" Zoro exclaimed jumping to his feet,

"How can I not when this is how you react?!"

"I won't pay!" Zoro threatened and Zeff barked a laugh,

"Why would you shitty eggplant it was on the house!" Zoro looked like he was going to say more, but he lost his steam, he rubbed his neck sheepishly his gaze no longer deadly,

"Sorry old man, we should get out of your way."

"Smartest thing you ever said," he grumbled, "Now walk the lady home,"

"Yes boss," Zoro saluted with a cheeky grin,

"Get out before I whip you boy!" Zoro grabbed Nico's hand and ran for it, his guttural laugh resounding off all of the surfaces making Nico want to laugh with him.

Nico expected Zoro to pull her though the almost empty restaurant, but as they reached the doors he stopped and pulled her in to a dark alcove. Every inch of his body covering hers. His breathing hadn't returned to normal and she could feel his chest expanding against hers with every deep and ragged inhale. His warm exhale pushing her fringe off her forehead and making her sweat under the heat of his intense gaze. He leant forward and rested his forehead against hers the sweat on his brow mingling with her own. He placed his hands at either side of her waist and tried to speak, but as he opened his mouth no words came out. His hands moved to caress her sides and Nico could feel herself bite her lip so as not to sigh as the callused fingers found the hem of her shirt.

"Tell me to stop," Zoro growled his voice laced with barely restrained violence and Nico could feel it reverberate through all of her cells setting each and every one of them alight. She had known it all along this man was trouble, but trouble is what she liked.