Story Challenge:
The story takes place in the fall. During the story, someone's method of transportation breaks down. The story must have an earth-spirit in it. The story must have a stained-glass window appear in the middle. A character will drink something alchoholic.

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The autumn leaves crunched under foot as Zoro walked through the streets. Dust swirled through the air, blown around by by a stray gust of wind and he sneezed as a bit of it flew up his nose. Searching around as he walked the small town, he eventually found what he had been looking for- a tavern.

See, not even a week after they'd rejoined for the New World, the Strawhats had been attacked by marines. Nothing big really, they hadn't been all that strong, but unfortunately they had been somewhat smart. Instead of going straight for the pirates themselves, they'd gone for the ship, wrecking it up quite a bit before Franky had gone ballistic on them.

So now they were basically stranded on some random island for the next week. Because no matter how amazing a shipwright Franky was, he couldn't fix the Sunny in a snap. The good side was that it would take no longer than a week, which was coincidentally the time it took for the Log to set. Lucky, lucky.

Pushing the tavern door open and absently noting the odd stained glass window on it, Zoro walked in and strode up to the counter. Pulling out a fat wad of beli, he threw it on the counter and pointed to the largest and strongest bottle of sake he could see. The bartender was about to object, saying that wasn't enough money, but then stopped when he saw Zoro's swords. Or it could have been the scars all over his body, or maybe he just knew who he was. Either way, he gulped nervously and pulled down the bottle, handing it over shakily.

Nodding his thanks with a quiet grunt, Zoro walked out of the bar without another word. He usually preffered to drink in solitude where he could think without anyone to bother him. Striding purposefully down a random path, he let his feet take him where they would, knowing he would eventually end up in the wilderness where nobody would bother him.

Finding a nice clearing in the woods, he plopped himself down, arranging his swords beside him. Uncorking the bottle, he took a gulp and almost choked. That was some strong stuff! Grinning, Zoro eagerly began guzzling the bottle, drinking it down with gusto. Soon enough he was half snapped and sprawled out on his back, bottle of grog still clutched in his hand.

Distantly he wondered if there had been more in that bottle than alcohol because it usually didn't make him hallucinate and he must have been hallucinating. Either that or the sky on this island was really unique, being swirly, glowy and rainbow.

The wind blew again and it felt vaguely like someone combing a hand through his hair. Blinking blearily as he felt the 'air-hand' touch his cheek, he sat up uneasily and looked around. Sitting there beside him was a small girl-child. She looked around 9 or so and had long messy hair with flowers strewn in it. Long, messy green hair with flowers. Green.

Gaping in shock, Zoro barely noticed as she continued to touch him, poking and prodding and tugging lightly at his hair. Snapping out of his daze, he frowned and reached up to grab her hand, stopping her from poking him again. "What are you doing?" He slurred.

She said nothing, simply giggling, a sound similar to a flock of twittering birds. She pulled her hand away, leaving a large smear of dirt on his palm and stood, twirling around. Her dress swirled as she did so, looking almost like flower petals... Shaking his head, Zoro blinked and realized that she had stopped and was now holding a hand out to him, like an invitation.

Arching a brow, Zoro cautiously took the hand, setting down his drink as he rose to stand. Smiling brightly, the young girl peered up at him with sky blue eyes and tugged on his hand. Pulling him with her, she led him through the woods to a small pond. Kneeling before it, she pulled him down as well. The two looked into the pond, their reflections staring back. The girl pointed at the reflection-Zoro, then at reflection-girl. His face twisted in confusion as his inebriated mind tried to understand. Seeing that he didn't get it, she reached up to tug at his hair, and then at her own, then pointed again at the reflections.

It dawned on him slowly. "Our... hair?"

She nodded enthusiastically, clapping her small hands together, and combed her fingers through his hair again, leaving behind even more streaks of dirt.

"You... you actually like my hair?" Never before had someone actually liked his hair. Hell, he doubted even his parents had liked his hair, seeing as he had been abandoned as a child.

Tilting her head, she nodded slowly, as though confused as to why he was confused.

And suddenly he was very happy. Why the opinion of some random child he met would make him so happy, he wasn't sure. Hell, it was just hair, it had never mattered to him before... But still, it was as if a burden had been lifted off his shoulders.

Plucking a yellow flower from the ground, the girl-child reached up and tucked it behind Zoro's ear. Pointing to his reflection, Zoro looked and saw the daisy sitting there on his head, making his hair look even more like grass. Turning to the girl, she smiled at him and the wind blew, sounding oddly like a voice as it spoke.

'Pretty!'

He didn't know what possessed him to think this was her voice as it had obviously been the wind, but maybe it was the drink talking. "You think I'm... pretty?"

She nodded again and plucked another flower from the ground, this one pink. She placed it in his large calloused hand and lifted it to her hair. He stared at her in confusion for a moment before he got it. "Do you want me to put it in her hair?"

Her face lit up and she motioned braiding with her hands. It took a few minutes as Zoro had absolutely no idea how to do a braid, but he got it eventually. Slowly he braided the flower into her hair, which was springy and coarse and the exact shade of grass green, and his heart warmed when she looked delightedly at her reflection.

They spoke naught for a while, letting the sounds of the forest and the wind fill the air. Eventually Zoro spoke, breaking the peaceful silence. "What's your name?"

Blinking at him, she said nothing and simply grabbed his hand. Looking at the clasped hands, Zoro was momentarily fascinated by how his hand dwarfed her small and dainty one. Her skin itself was odd, with a dirty bronze tint and the feel of smooth bark.

The quiet surrounded them and though he tried to hold on, Zoro slowly drifted to sleep.

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Waking up, Zoro looked around and found that he was once more alone. He was back where he had started, bottle of booze laying in the grass beside him. Had it all been a dream?

Feeling vaguely sorrowful at that thought, he picked up the bottle, corked it and stuffed it in his haramaki, then began the trek back to the ship.

It was almost sunset when he finally walked up the gangplank to the Sunny. The crew was gathered in the dining hall and most of them stopped, looking up as he walked in. Sitting down on the bench in his customary spot beside Luffy, Zoro realized everyone was staring at him.

"What?" he questioned- had he been gone that long? When no one answered, he scowled and crossed his arms defensively. Then suddenly, Sanji burst out in laughter, tears coming to his eyes as he doubled over. The rest of the crew slowly followed him, bursting into fits of uncontrollable giggles.

Growling, brows furrowing in confusion, he barked out "What the hell are you laughing at?!" No one answered him for a few moments, to busy laughing. Even Robin, usually so controlled, was giggling quietly. The only person just as confused as him was Luffy, who was absently chewing on a drumstick as he stared at the rest of his crew.

Finally, the cook answered him, wiping a tear from his eye. "That's- that's a nice look for you marimo-" And he began laughing once more. Confused, Zoro picked up his still empty plate and looked at his reflection, eyes widening. There, in his hair, was the yellow flower the girl had put in his hair. Added together with the random streaks and smudges and blots of dirt all over him, he did look quite the sight- and yet... and yet he had never felt so good about himself.

Of course, Luffy still hadn't clued in on the joke. "What? I don't get it! What's so funny?"

Most of the crew had settled down now, the only ones still laughing being Sanji, Usopp and Brook. Putting a hand to her mouth to cover her smile, Robin commented bemusedly "It seems swordsman-san has encountered one of the island's legendary earth-spirits."

Chopper gasped, Luffy's eyes sparkled and Nami raised a brow.

Sanji snorted, still laughing. "Probably thought you were one of their own, grass-head!" The stupid cook was leaning on the counter for support, laughing so hard as he had been.

Usually Zoro would have taken offense to this, but all he could think of was the happy little girl who liked his hair.

That night he borrowed a small journal from Robin and slipped the daisy between it's pages.

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The whole 'putting the flower in the journal' is called flower pressing, and it preserves flowers in a flattened state.