Two Weeks in Paradise

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of the characters associated with it.

"Talking"

Thoughts

Day 6

"Zoro! Your manliness has definitely improved! Oww!" shouted Franky as he gave his usual flamboyant entrance.

"Yeah yeah, so you just arrived?"

"Yeah! Just heard from Shakky that you arrived six days ago, so how have you been?"

"Fine" Zoro responded stoically. "So has anyone else arrived?"

"No".

"I see . . . . So what are you doing now?"

Franky pulled a bit straightening the large bag of tools he had. "Well I haven't just been sitting around either ya know. I've improved my manliness significantly in these last two years as you can see" indicating his upgrades. "But for the moment I've got a ton of cool ideas I wanted to do to upgrade the Sunny and some more I wanted to add before we all set sail".

"How long will this take?"

"If I start now about a week or so".

"I see . . . ."

The pirate cyborg then peeked passed his comrades shoulder to see a pale skinned woman with shoulder length bluish black hair as she appeared to be sorting through a bunch of swords at a market shop. "And who is she?" he asked curiously.

". . . . Just someone I know" as Zoro sort of began droning off.

"Heh" as Franky grinned. "You aren't on a date now are you?"

The green swordsman's face raged at the implication. "What the hell would make you think that?"

Franky laughed a bit at this. "Calm down calm down, I was just messing with you. But then why is she still with you?"

Zoro gave a bit of a growl at this. ". . . . It's complicated".

". . . . OK, but anyways Shakky gave me some tickets to go to the carnival near here. But as you can see, I don't have the time. So why don't you and your . . . ." as Franky grinned, "girlfriend go together there".

"Franky!" as Zoro's face reflected a demonic side as he began reaching for his sword.

"Ha ha ha, see ya" as he soon dropped the tickets and ran.

"I'll get you for this!"

"Who was that?"

Zoro turned around to see Tashigi looking at him. "Looks like my marketplace decoy is over now . . . .", "no one, just someone I know".

The marine swordswoman raised her eyebrow to this but soon shook her head. "Whatever", she then looked down "what this?" She then knelt down picking up what she saw. "Tickets? To the carnival?"

The green swordsman gaped at this. "It's not what you think!"

Tashigi didn't know what got into him as her eyebrow arched at this. "If you wanted to go, there's no reason for you to freak out like this".

"But I . . . ."

"Just get going" as she then started to push him along.

Zoro grunted at this as he couldn't believe he would even honor the deal he made with Tashigi.

~ Flashback ~

"Just leave me alone!" yelled Zoro as he was running away.

"Get back here!" yelled back Tashigi as she was closely chasing him from behind.

During this time another crowd was watching the ridiculousness that was transpiring. "Are they still at it?"

"Yeah, they've been running in circles like a pair of idiots for an hour now".

"Oh? How so?"

The spectator simply just pointed showing at that very moment how Zoro and Tashigi ran right by each other yelling the same thing they have been yelling for the past hour.

". . . . Are you sure this isn't like some sort comedy sketch?"

"Hmm, what do you mean? Do you mean this is being filmed?" as the spectator looked around for a camera.

The other spectator shrugged, "how the hell should I know? The only thing I do know is that judging from what they're doing" noting the two sword users. "There is no way in hell people can be this stupid".

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Are you serious? I mean what kind of people would do something as dumb as that" pointing to the still ongoing chase. "The only way for something this dumb to be possible is that either that their blind or extremely dumb when it comes to directions and what are the chances of that?"

"Hmm, I see your point".

"Yeah, makes sense".

"But it doesn't hurt to just watch does it?"

Now at this very moment the two sword users were running right at each to which Zoro at the last moment couldn't stop and Tashigi continued to charge ahead to which in turn caused both of them to crash right into each other as the green swordsman landed on his back with the marine landing right on top of him.

"Watch where you are going!" yelled Zoro.

"Watch where you're going stupid!" Tashigi yelled back as she sat up.

"Why won't you just leave me alone? I've already kept my promise of helping you get back your glasses! So why are you still bothering me?"

"Because it's my duty as a marine!" rebutted Tashigi grabbing his gi top pulling him up to get face to face with him. "And you will come with me to the marine base to be arrested!"

"What kind of stupid logic is that you moron!"

"Don't call me a moron!"

"Moron! Moron! Moron!"

Tashigi grunted at this as she was feeling herself become extremely infuriated with the pirate swordsman. However she knew after their exchange yesterday she was no match for him in a straight up battle, so she couldn't force him to go. But if she couldn't beat him in swordsmanship then she was going to have to beat him in intelligence to which she had just the plan. She soon released her grip on him as she sat up folding her arms looking rather smug. "I'll tell you what; you're a man of your word right? If you can tolerate me for three solid days I'll leave you alone. However if you can't then you have to give yourself up, deal?" To her speculation, there was something about her that really annoyed him. If that was the case all she needed to do was push until he cracked and that's when she'll get him. But in the event he goes against his word well . . . . That would be just the more reason to hate him.

"Well I . . . ." but Zoro soon closed his mouth. He had to agree that there was some merit to this deal. All he had to do was wait her out for three days and then she'll be out of his hair for good. Although it would be difficult, it was the best solution he had. "Fine, you got a deal".

"Good" as she soon climbed off with Zoro soon following suit. "Your word, right?"

He gave a simple nod to this.

"Splendid then let us begin starting . . . ." looking at a watch. "Now, remember Zoro you show any form of annoyance then you have to come with me, got it?"

"Yeah yeah".

"Good then, now let's go".

Zoro gave a sigh to this as he followed her from behind.

To the spectators that were watching, no one really knew what to say as the crowd knew who the pair were but were mixed consisting of the separate days that they saw them.

"Do they hate each other?"

"Do they like each other?"

"Did they make up?"

"Aren't they supposed to be enemies?"

"Aren't they supposed to be married?"

But for some of the ladies, "damn that woman knows how to whip a man back into their place" to which the other lady spectators agreed too seeing how easily Zoro folded in, she must have had some terrific skill.

However some of the guys rebutted this, in the end no one really knew what was up with them as none of them could make heads or tails of their situation. But what they did know and what they can all agree upon was, "they have a rather dysfunctional relationship".

~ End Flashback ~

"Just a few more hours and I'll be rid of her" thought Zoro. "Just a few more hours . . . . "

As Tashigi pushed him along she cursed herself for getting to far into the heat of the moment as she should've made it five or ten days at least. But frankly, it surprised her at how patient Zoro was. Truthfully she didn't understand what made him tick. For the last three days, she did everything imaginable to annoy him from spilling drinks on him to insulting his lack of direction. But nothing seemed to faze him as he would simply brush it off as they continued along.

But to be rather honest, she was seeing a completely different side to what she originally thought a pirate was supposed to be or rather Zoro for this matter. If she thought more like a person then a marine then in a rather strange way . . . . She kind of . . . . Liked being in Zoro's company. I mean after getting around his somewhat arrogant tough-guy like exterior, he wasn't such a bad guy to be around.

However she still had a job to do as she was a marine and he was a pirate to which she had to bring him in. But then she wondered . . . . "How do I make him crack . . . . " This was her last chance and she needed to make it count. "So how would I drive him crazy?"

Now at the carnival, the pair presented their tickets as they were soon emitted inside. Upon entering Tashigi did everything in her power to annoy the pirate swordsman. However after three hours of badgering, she more or less had to give up due to both exhaustion and the fact Zoro was too trained to fall for simple traps. Even to her embarrassment she attempted to annoy Zoro by demanding him to win her prizes at many game stands. After a certain amount of time, she had won an impressive amount of stuffed animals. As she reminisced about it, ". . . . I shouldn't have done that" as she had to apologize to each stand Zoro destroyed in absolute victory.

In one such stand, the green swordsman smirked triumphantly leaning a giant hammer to his shoulder as he not only destroyed the scale to the 'test your strength' game but the bell top too as everyone who was watching was pretty sure the slide weight that was sent flying was not going to come back down anytime soon. "Heh, too easy".

" . . . . Unbelievable" said the host as he still had saucer eyes like everyone else.

"Oye Tashigi, what prize did you want?"

The marine swordswomen's face twitched at this, ". . . . Yeah I should have seen that coming". She then looked to host as she gave a small polite bow, "sorry . . . ."

Then came the 'knock down the can' game to which Zoro not only knocked down the cans but the entire back wall as well.

"How did you do that!" exclaimed the host. "Some of those cans were glued to stand too!"

Tashigi could only sigh at this, "shame on you for cheating! And . . . . Sorry . . . ."

Miraculously for each game Zoro played even the ones that didn't require strength they somehow got destroyed with him winning each of them to which they all ended the same way with " . . . . Sorry".

So now at this time with many stuffed animals around her, Tashigi sat on a bench not sure what to do now.

"Oye Tashigi" called Zoro in his usual stoic manner.

"What?" she called back tiredly.

"Let's play that game next".

Tashigi simply waved her hand at this. "Just go then" as she didn't want to bother looking at what it was.

"Unfortunately I need a partner to play. So you're going to have to come along".

"Huh?" now looking up she saw that the game he wanted to play was called 'Struggle' which was a point sparring game involving foam bats to which all you needed to do was hit your opponent three times to win the game. At seeing this she could only sigh, "Well . . . . How much damage can he do with a foam bat?"

Now at the registration line the pair stood next to each other as they awaited their turn to sign in. During this time Tashigi gave a bit of a sigh, "how did I become the annoyed one . . . ."

"What was that?"

" . . . . Nothing" she breathed out. But as she silently stood in line there was something she was curious about, and it was concerning the first time they fought against each other as this was something that was always hanging at the very edge of her mind. So deciding to be bold, "Zoro . . . ."

"Yeah?"

" . . . . Who was that friend you were talking about the first time we met?"

Zoro looked down to her in a silent stare. Just as he was about to open his mouth he was shoved aside followed by Tashigi as a rather rude man and woman dressed in flamboyant clothing were cutting in line just to get to the front.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

The flamboyant woman turned about as she showed a somewhat arrogant smirk. "Oh, are you talking to me?"

"Of course I am! Who do you think you are to just cut in line like that?"

"I don't see why we can't" then said the man. "It's not like it's going to matter anyways".

"What was that?" but as she was going to further confront them she felt a hand on her shoulder from behind. She then looked back to see another spectator.

"You shouldn't do that. They were the champions of this game for five years running and if you're smart you're going to do what I do and just give up now".

"What? Are they that good?"

Zoro's ears immediately perked up at this as he wanted to hear more.

"Yeah! Their skill in monstrous! No one in five years has ever managed to touch them. From what I heard, if you really get on their bad side they can hurt you pretty bad"

Tashigi then looked forward again as her eyes became shadowed. Simply through all her years of marine service, she would like to consider herself a rather patient person. However with how her day has been going thus far . . . . "Zoro . . . ."

"Yeah . . . ."

A strange aura then began to emit from her. "Let's go crush them".

". . . . OK".

Finally after registration, everyone who was still brave enough to enter went to the waiting room as this was going to be an elimination tournament set in two groups with the finalists of both facing off in the championship round. Now for Tashigi, she was slightly upset not to be able to fight the flamboyant pair as they were in the other group. But if they were as good as people were saying then they would most likely be meeting them in the championship round.

Although it would be considered rather presumptuous and arrogant for anyone to proclaim victory before fighting the first round, in Zoro and Tashigi case well . . . . After their first round no one felt like fighting anymore in their group.

In their first match, the sword pair was facing off against a pair of rather burly men who seem to rather pride themselves on their strength. At the moment the start signal was given, the two men dashed forward to give their pre-emptive attack. Tashigi readied herself for battle. However her partner had other plans in mind.

Zoro at this time cocked his left arm up while placing his right hand over his bicep. "Ittoryu . . . ."

"Ehh!" as the marine swordswomen looked to her side. "He can't be serious!"

Then swinging his foam bat in a circular motion, "Sanjuroku Pound Ho!"

The two burly men saw the attack coming to which in the last minute out of instinct jumped out of the way.

"Ha! You thought that would work on us?"

"What kind of . . . . " but then a large rumble was felt to which the two men looked back to see a ten foot wide indenture in the concrete wall. "What the hell!"

"Tsh, that attack should have been faster and should have annihilated that wall" as he looked to his weapon. "Must be because this thing is too soft".

"That's the thing you're worried about!" exclaimed Tashigi as she couldn't believe what she just saw either.

". . . . We give up".

"Huh?" as the marine swordswomen looked to them.

"Yeah" the other guy said shockingly, "I don't want to see if he can actually cut me with foam" to which with that they withdrew. Seeing the sheer display of power the pirate swordsmen had, no one dared to step in the same ring as him as most of the people in their group immediately surrendered thus bumping them up pretty far.

But for those who stayed, "Ahhh!" as Tashigi charged in disappearing in the blink of an eye as she slashed down her opponents.

"No way! That chick is really strong too!"

"Did you see her moves? I couldn't even see a thing!"

"Holy crap the finals are going to be awesome!"

But simply for Tashigi, "I can't let Zoro fight. He might actually kill someone with a foam bat!"

So then after some time they arrived to the finals as Tashigi's prediction was right as the flamboyant pair were there to meet them.

"So you're our final opponent huh? This ought to be easy" said the woman.

"What a joke" said the man, "I can't wait to crush you".

The spectators who were now watching the finals talked amongst themselves about what they thought were going to happen. "This ought to be interesting. Who do you think is going to win?"

"I'd say the invincible married pair!"

"Married pair?"

"Well if you heard around I hear those two are actually married".

"Really?"

"Yeah! Didn't you see how vigorously she was fighting to protect him? It must be love. It has to be love. Yes, that's it; the ultimate power in the world is love!"

". . . . Right, but anyways I still think the current champs might win this one".

"Huh? What makes you think that?"

"If you were watching their earlier matches, they haven't even gotten serious yet".

Now on the arena floor, the flamboyant pair looked to each other as they gave an insidious nod to each other as a strange gleam reflected in their foam bats.

The announcer then stepped to the podium as he begun announcing the finals. "Ladies and gentlemen! It looks like we're going to be having one spectacular match to show you! With our current five time champs versus the newcomers, this is bound to get very interesting!"

The crowd cheered.

"On your left is the five time winner and current reigning champion, the glamorous peacocks!"

"Wow, what a strange name" thought Tashigi.

"And to your right the newcomer team making their first glorious debut at this tournament, the invincible married pair!"

"What?" yelled Zoro in a mix of disbelief and anger.

"Who the hell came up with that name!" exclaimed Tashigi as she blushed in embarrassment to the statement.

"Now if you're all ready let the match begin!"

"Hey wait! I demand you change our team name right now!" yelled the marine swordswomen. However there was no time for that as their opponents were heading right at them. But being the trained sword user she was, she easily moved out of the way. Even though she was being attacked by both of them, she had no trouble dodging at all.

Zoro soon entered the fray as he wanted a piece of the action to which the battle soon began splitting off to men and woman respectfully.

But frankly to both sword users' disappointments, the flamboyant pair was nothing more than novices swinging their bats around like idiots. But deciding to end this, Zoro and Tashigi saw an opening as they swung at their respective opponents.

The flamboyant pairs eyes gleamed at this as they maneuvered their weapon to meet there's. Upon making contact, both Zoro and Tashigi were surprised to see that their foam bats were cut in half.

"Yeah! There is! The champs legendary foam cutting technique! What a turnaround!" to which the crowd roared in excitement.

However Zoro and Tashigi knew better. In the brief instance they saw that slight glimmer as they understood what had just happened. "They have a live blade hidden in there".

"Damn cheaters!" thought the marine swordswomen as she was now furious. As much as she would have liked to clock her opponent, hitting your opponent with your hands was against the rules not to mention they couldn't get a replacement bat to which the flamboyant pair probably have been taking advantage of for all these years. However Tashigi had her honor to which she refused to lose to a bunch of arrogant cheating scum like them. But then the question became, "how am I supposed to beat them without a weapon?"

"Get behind me . . . ."

"What?"

"I'm going to end this now" said Zoro. For frankly he disliked people like this who had no sense of honor in battle regardless of what kind of battle it was to which like Tashigi he would not lower himself to their standards in order to win. So now in this case since he had no weapon to use, "mutoryu . . . ."

"Ehh! Zoro! Wait!"

"Tatsu Maki!" to which a giant tornado of wind emerged sucking up their opponent instantly defeating them. But it didn't just stop there. Upon unleashing his attack the crowd started getting pulled in which was soon followed by the building as the roof was completely torn off now.

"Hmm, I figured it would have done more damage" said Zoro but soon received a slap behind his head.

"And that's the thing you're worried about!" said Tashigi in disbelief.

~ The Carnival ~ (some time later)

Although the sword pair were named the new champs, they didn't win anything as let's face it Zoro's attack destroyed the entire arena plus the prizes in the mess of the disaster.

But in other news the reigning champs were not only dethroned but dishonored as well as everyone now knew they had been cheating for the last five years as they had a blade hidden inside their foam bats.

Now at seeing the destruction the green swordsmen had caused no other game stands would allow him to play.

So now at this time in the evening Tashigi used the last minutes of her authority to get Zoro the ride the Ferris Wheel with her as they both sat on opposite ends looking out into the distance. "I guess my time is up huh?"

"Yes".

"I guess I have to leave you alone now don't I?"

"Yes".

Tashigi sighed a bit in disappointment, but then tried to be a bit more optimistic. "Uhh . . . . Thanks for winning all those stuffed animals for me".

Zoro looked to her as he gave a nod. "You're welcome".

The marine swordswomen looked out again. For whatever time she had left she might as well make it count as there were a few things still weighing on her. That is when her thoughts came back to what she was wondering earlier. "Zoro . . . ."

"Yeah?"

"If it's OK . . . . Can you tell me more about your friend? The one you said looked like me".

Zoro looked to her in silence as he then closed his eyes in contemplation of whether or not he should talk about it. But considering he started it all those years ago back in Logue Town, he figured he might as well finish it. "Her name . . . . was Kuina. She was the only daughter of my master, she was quite headstrong, ambitious, and my closest friend. Like me, she too wanted to become the greatest swordsmen in the world. But like you always spouted nonsense like 'because I'm a woman I can't do it'".

. . ." Tashigi's eyes widened at how blunt his statement was.

"I used to fight with her all the time. Two-thousand and one matches we had, but all of them I lost. Aside from Mihawk, she was the only person I could never defeat" as he then turned his gaze outside to gather himself.

The marine swordswomen was at this time speechless to what she was hearing.

Zoro then pulled Wado from his side as he then sat it on his lap. "This sword originally belonged to her. And it was upon this sword I swore to her that I would live both our dreams and become the best swordsmen there was".

But that was when Tashigi had to ask the only question most people could think of considering what she had just heard". . . . What happened to her?"

". . . . She died" as he soon placed Wado back with his other swords.

Tashigi looked wide eyed to this confession as it started to fall into place for her. Slowly as she started piecing this altogether, she was now beginning to understand why Zoro never wanted to fight her let alone kill her. "Because I remind him so much of his friend. It's because if he defeated me he'd be dishonoring the memory her . . . .", ". . . . I'm sorry".

"Hmm, why?"

". . . . I just felt it was appropriate for me to say that".

"Whatever" as Zoro then turned back to look out the window.

Tashigi then sensed as the atmosphere had just gotten a bit strained. But then looking away towards the outside, she closed her eyes in silent contemplation. She knew she had just touched some very sensitive nerves she should not have. But in acknowledging this, a certain idea then came to mind. "Then I'll be your new rival . . . ."

"Huh?" as Zoro turned about giving a somewhat dumbfounded expression.

"I know I can't ever replace Kuina, but I definitely won't ever give up till I defeat you! So until that time I swear I'll keep chasing after you till I take you down!"

The green swordsmen showed a mixture of reactions to her proclamation. First was silent shock to her promise, then immense irritation that she'll keep bothering him, but then finally a small smirk as he breathed out a sigh. "Heh, well you better get to work because you have quite a lot of catching up to do".

"You just wait and see Zoro! I'll definitely be making you eat your words!"

To be continued . . . .

Author's notes: This concludes another chapter to which I hoped you all enjoyed.

So I would like to thank you all for reading this fic and I further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.