Title: To Be or Not to Be, Pt. II

Summary: A continuation of Pt. I

AN: By popular request, part two! Zoro learns a bit more about his captain. I hope y'all like it! I hadn't meant to update this soon, but meh. Oh well.

Disclaimer: I can't draw, so how could I be Oda?


Several hours passed before the crew ended up together again, and in that time nearly everyone on the tiny island had come out from the woodwork to catch a glimpse of the Pirate King. They were a self -sufficient community, relying on their own resources rather than imports from other islands, so foreigners and visitors were few and far between—hence the lack of a proper harbor. What had started out as a small celebration was quickly growing into a festival, although no one seemed to mind very much at the change of plans. Franky and Robin's masterful bonfire stood proudly in the town square, surrounded on either side by long trains of mismatched tables. The feast promised to be a grand one, they could all tell—between the blonde chef that had swooped through each house in search of men and women willing to lend a hand, and the village's own handful of talent, the evening was shaping up to be every bit a cooking competition.

And so, when the sun finally set, the stoves were set aflame and dishes of every kind began pouring from the kitchens in Party's Bar. To make things fair, Sanji had declared no one but the establishment's own single employee allowed to use his or her "home turf", so everyone had been forced to cram in and share the space. If anything, it made the whole ordeal that much more entertaining.

Meanwhile, Brooke and his new apprentice had set up in the center of it all, the Bar's piano somehow having been lugged outside just for the occasion. The kid, though young, certainly had talent, and the pair managed to play everything from jazz to classical to soul on a variety of instruments before the evening came to a close. Every so often, the music would pause as the skeleton helped him through a particularly difficult line or showed him a better way to place his fingers, but the quality entertainment was worth it all. Eventually, old Chiken had swooped her husband up into a raucous, hopping dance that sent Gyoru's friends whopping and laughing at his expense—that is, until their own wives pulled them into the fray. All in all, it was a strange, wonderful, noisy start to the evening—all very fitting for such a peculiar guest.

Luffy, for his part, kept a permanent vigil over the food table, snatching up the first bites of everything to emerge from his childhood hangout. As usual, Zoro was not far away from his captain, though he seemed particularly edgy after the large woman and her possé had chased the boy up into the island's dense forest. He had enough common sense to know that following them would only cause more trouble in the long run—Luffy had grown up here, after all; he likely knew the mountain woods better than anyone else, and it wouldn't do them any good if he went and got himself lost, per usual—but going so long with him out of sight had made him a tad nervous. Luffy always seemed to find trouble, one way or another. And, if he didn't, trouble certainly had a way of finding him.

Suddenly, the barbecued leg of some island bird was waved in his face, and the swordsman blinked out of his thoughts. "Oi, Zoro—You hungry?" Luffy chomped a bite from the meat stick in his other hand, and waved the leg again. "Eat. 'M not sure which one of 'em made it, but it's good!" With a shrug, he accepted the small gift, (Captain's orders, and all that), and Luffy gave a satisfied nod before turning back around. Several bites later, he had to admit that whatever it was did taste rather nice. He just hoped that the shitty cook hadn't been the one to prepare it.

So focused on his food, Zoro failed to notice the figure come up beside him until another unnecessarily loud laugh (was it a village trait?) sounded in his ear. "You must be somethin' special, if the brat's willin' to share with you." The woman boomed, and Zoro found his hand creeping closer to the hilt of one sword. It was the lady that had run Luffy off earlier, curly orange hair, cigarette smoke, and all.

"Dadan!" Luffy beamed, turning around at the sound of her voice. He bounced on the balls of his feet, grinning around whatever it was he had shoved into his mouth.

"Hey, kid. You goin' to introduce me?" She slapped Zoro on the back, shooting his way a look that sent inexplicable chills down the swordsman's spine. He wasn't intimidated—the woman just seemed off, for some reason.

Luffy shrugged, "Didn't you hear who he was when we shouted out everyone's names earlier?"

"Ah, that's just his name—I want a proper introduction, like the one the old man got."

There was a pause, before Luffy laughed and swallowed his food. "This is Zoro. He's my swordsman now, but pretty soon his goin' to kick this one guy's ass and be the greatest ever. The end."

Dadan raised an eyebrow, "The end?"

Zoro grunted, not liking the fact that he was being pointedly left out of the conversation. "'M not goin' to stop bein' your swordsman after I beat Hawk Eyes."

At that, Luffy's grin stretched even wider. "Good. 'Cause you're stuck with me, anyway."

Dadan eyed the two, before smacking the little King on the back of his head. "Oi, you goin' to tell this kid who I am, then? Introductions go two ways, y'know, brat."

"This is a scary lady," Luffy whined, turning back to Zoro. "Her name's Dadan, and she leads that group of bandits up on Mount Colubo. The end."

"Bandits?" Zoro almost choked. But, then again, his captain did have the habit of making some rather interesting friends.

"Yep."

"Oi! Don't go makin' me sound like a bad guy or nothin'!" She reached up to knock his noggin once more. "I practically raised you boys after that sorry- ass granddad of yours dumped you here."

"Bandits." Zoro repeated. Well, now a few things made sense, he supposed. Just as Luffy had never pried into their pasts, they had never poked at his. Nearly half the excitement of this latest journey was to find a few more pieces to their crew's puzzle. They had known since Water 7 that Luffy hadn't been raised by his father, much less his grandfather, so the theories that had circulated ranged widely about his childhood. The popular speculation came that his mother had brought him up, but the revelation of Ace's heritage had driven an orphanaged past up in the rank of possibilities. Now, however, he wasn't quite sure what to think.

Then again, he had spent the most formative years of his life in a dojo. Zoro supposed it was all a matter of perspective from that point.

"Yep!"

"The brat never told you 'bout us?" Dadan asked, and Zoro could only shake his head. She wheeled on her former charge, eyes overly -emotionally watery yet again as she fumed after the suddenly- fleeing boy.

Zoro shifted, getting ready to follow, when a new—thankfully much softer—voice spoke up at his other side. "Don't worry, she won't hurt him. Dadan may look mean, but she has a soft spot when it comes to those boys." Glancing over, the swordsman saw the same young woman from earlier, her now -sleeping baby curled up in her arms. Makino, her name was. He remembered it from Luffy's excited shouts. "Ace's death hit her harder than any of us, I think. She half- near killed Mr. Garp when he came home." There was a pause, as they stood in silence, watching the festivities. Zoro considered her words, and decided to tolerate the obnoxious bandit. For now. "How's Luffy holding up?"

"Eh?"

"After Ace, I mean. We all wished we could be there for him, but the best we could do was send our thoughts. The papers said you folks disbanded..."

"We don't talk about it. Any of it." Zoro replied solemnly, tossing his forgotten food off onto one of the many plates filled with other scraps, before crossing his arms. "The important thing is that we're all together now—and stronger. Strong enough that nothin' like that'll happen again." He nodded, more to himself than the small woman beside him, as she watched him, carefully.

"Alright," she said after a while, humming a bit as she rocked her infant. "Name's Makino, by the way. I run this place back here," she nodded in the direction of Party's Bar. "I was there when our rubber boy ate Shanks's fruit, so I can damn- near say I've seen it all."

So the devil fruit had belonged to the Red -Haired Emporer, then. Glancing down at the pepper- topped baby in her arms, Zoro couldn't help but wonder what else Shanks had left on the island. "Huh." Glancing back up at his captain, still running for his life, he replied, "Zoro. Swordsman."

"Eloquent."

Unsure as to whether or not he'd just been insulted, Zoro kept quiet.

They stood like that for a while, simply watching the joyous chaos unfold around them as the night wore on. Sometime between then and midnight, Luffy had managed to shake his surrogate mother, bounding off to greet everyone else he had missed. Several others had joined in with the two musicians, and before long an entire ensemble was serenading the dancing crowd. Eventually, Sanji emerged from the kitchens, zeroing in immediately on a group of young ladies surveying the food tables. Robin and Franky, like Zoro, seemed content to observe, and Chopper appeared deep in conversation with a scraggly white dog who wore a jacket suspiciously similar to the bandits'. At some point, Luffy had run over and slapped a bottle of sake in the swordsman's hand without a word, before galloping off to swoop Nami into a failed imitation of the waltz, as fireworks—undoubtedly Usopp's doing—erupted overhead.

Eventually, the baby in Makino's arms began squirming, demanding either food or quiet. With a gentle hand on his forearm, she bid her goodbye before turning to leave. "Thank you, Zoro -Swordsman."