A/N: So happy to get a few more reviews. Thanks everyone who did. So this is the shortest chapter I've written so far. This actually makes me quite happy.
Anyway enjoy and please review. The next chapter after this might be a bit more of a wait!
Zoro was one of the first people Luffy met, who would become one of his closest and dearest friends. They had known each other for just over a decade now. Luffy remembers when Zoro was kinda scrawny, short for his age, mean looking and not really fitting in anywhere. A smile crept across his face as the memories replayed in his head.
The first time Luffy had seen Zoro was when he was in a dingy bar, fighting a guy twice his size in a caged off area in the centre of the room. The bar, ironically called Bar Love, collected all the angry, hopeless and miserable that Grand Line could offer, situated in a poorer area of the city known as Shabody. It would be fair to say that Luffy was immediately drawn to Zoro, not only was he a kid just like himself but he was fighting like a ferocious beast, his eyes were wild but his movements precise and striking. After knocking out his opponent by jumping and punching him directly in the jugular, two or three claps were heard before the rumble of drunken conversation resumed as if nothing had occurred. There he was, dirty, sweating, taking large breaths and staring at the floor in anger and what Luffy knew immediately to be fear and loneliness. How did he know? Because he felt just the same way.
The barkeep opened the cage in no great hurry handing this younger Zoro a bit of money but before Luffy could approach him, Zoro was running out of the bar as fast as his feet could carry him. When Luffy pushed his way through the crowd to get to the door, all he could see down the streets were drunks and piles of rubbish. Zoro was gone. Luffy must have only been about 8 or 9 at the time himself, which would have made Zoro about 11, he wouldn't see Zoro again until just over a year later.
Luffy and his older brother Ace, were pretty much delinquents. Both of them having a dead mother by the age of three and a father who had disappeared by the time Luffy was six, leaving everything behind with a note saying he would make the world a better place and wouldn't return before hand. They were abandoned and didn't trust anyone other than each other before they were had even hit double digits. They would act out, start fights; Ace became obsessed with setting things on fire while Luffy would just beat up anyone who slightly irritated him, which was almost everyone. Their councillor at the orphanage would just tell them that all they needed was love, trust and bonds with others. Dadan, as she was called, Luffy now realises in his older years, was very protective over himself and Ace by preventing many severe punishments, which they probably deserved. Still, at the time, they wouldn't listen to her and didn't care; he and his brother must have made her life hell.
They would sneak out at all hours and head to fight clubs or bars. They were only ever situated in the rough or poor areas of the city and most places wouldn't care that they were kids. Kids fights were considered light entertainment for the crowd of people who had already hit rock bottom. They could earn anything from ยง10 -100 beli for one fight in these places, which to their younger selves was a lot of money to gain. They returned to the orphanage with constant bruises, scrapes and occasionally burn marks.
Luffy stroked across his chest self consciously. Under his shirt was an ugly burn mark he had received from one of Ace's experiments. Ace had set bits of spirit drenched cloth on fire bound round fire resistant gloves, he wanted to try out how effective the burned for future fights and practiced on his little brother. As he sent the punch towards Luffy's chest with only a bit of force behind it, neither had really anticipated what the searing heat that emanated off the cloth would really cause to unprotected human skin. Luffy still remembers the pain, the smell of burning flesh and the panicked and frantic Ace sending constant apologies between curses. He never held it against his brother though, he thought his scar was kind of cool and matched the small mark under his eye from when he had stabbed himself in the face with a vegetable knife to prove how tough he was to one of his mocking opponents. Of course that was an entirely stupid thing to have done, Dadan certainly wasn't happy when she had to pick him and Ace up from the hospital when any new damage was obtained.
The second time Luffy saw Zoro was in a slightly more reputable fight bar and by that he meant that you would get paid more and the bar was generally much cleaner. However, these minor plus points made this bar a much more popular place for people to gather in. Whitebeard's was much friendlier and more secure, mostly because it was run by huge, burly, ex-sailors who wouldn't tolerate anyone's disruptive behaviour in their establishment. Ace had made friends with most of the staff, in particular their glass collector Marco, who was only a year older than him. Luffy just went along because he had nothing better to do. But this second meeting was the tentative start to his relationship with Zoro.
Whitebeard's had a much more open stage, it was raised, had one solid wall to the back and the rest of the area blocked off from the crowds by only a chain barrier. This meant that spectators could get almost right into the action without, hopefully, gaining any damage from the fights. It they did get hurt, it was not considered the establishments fault but their own instead.
It was a Thursday night in March when Luffy had gone, he was at the bar signing up for a match when Whitebeard himself was announcing a fight between one of his bar staff, Vista, with much fondness and then with less enthusiasm, someone called Roronoa Zoro. Zoro was still just as skinny and angry looking although he had definitely grown a few inches. His telltale green hair, which Luffy thought was the coolest thing about him, was sticking out in tufts from a black bandana tied around his head. Luffy still recognised him instantly and was drawn in yet again by his chaotic presence. What was the biggest surprise to him at the time, however, was the fact that this boy was now carrying a huge katana that almost matched him in height.
Luffy turned his head to the side to observe the snoozing swordsman on the sofa next to him, Zoro was one of the strongest people he has ever known and he doesn't just mean physical strength. Zoro had probably been through more heartache even then himself although he would just deny it. He was a man who carried many scars, emotional and physical and yet he would still walk forward with his head held high. Luffy was glad that he had relentlessly hassled Zoro until they became friends.
It was considered a special fight that night, not only because one of Whitebeard's staff was participating but mainly because fights with dangerous weapons were rarely allowed. Zoro only reached Vista's chest in height, he was definitely short for his age, his baggy clothes, which were obviously too big for his frame also made him look scrawny. But there he was taking on a burly ex-sailor in a swordfight, Luffy was amazed.
As Zoro bowed towards his opponent, something Luffy had never witnessed before in these fight bars, that fierceness he remembered returned to Zoro's eyes. Vista looked remarkably unfazed and didn't return the gesture of respect before the fight either. Luffy instinctively knew from that very moment that Zoro would be victorious. As the fight progressed with Zoro slowly but surely pushing his opponent back, Luffy was getting more and more inspired to be just like him. Zoro was cool and collected in his fighting, only his eyes gave away his emotions and effort, Luffy had never seen such focus and discipline before. When Zoro had eventually managed to disarm Vista to a much more lively applause then when Luffy had last seen him. Luffy was bursting to talk to him and started to push his way through the crowd to get to this boy leaving behind Ace who was asking where the hell he was going.
As Zoro stepped off the stage and collected his winnings from a calm but congratulatory Whitebeard, he had turned towards Luffy, with that grumpy face he saw over a year previous. Luckily he wasn't running out of the place this time so Luffy, actually enthusiastic to meet someone new, blocked his path out of there.
'Hi, I'm Luffy, well, Monkey D. Luffy, I think you're really cool! Hey can I look at your sword? Your hair is green too, which is awesome! Hey will you be my friend? I really like the way you fight. Hey how old are you?' Luffy bombarded excitedly at a very startled swordsman.
'Ehh?' Was all that Luffy got in reply as the swordsman tried to get around him looking for an escape route. Zoro managed to get to the bar with just ignoring Luffy, which Luffy had found really frustrating. Luckily Zoro had to stop here to collect a case for his sword.
'Hey, why are you ignoring me?' Luffy had whined, which seemed to have worked in getting the stubborn boy to cave in.
'Erm, Luffy was it? Erm, what do you want?' Zoro enquired softly looking very unsure about the situation; however, Luffy just beamed a smile at him.
'I really think we should become friends!' Luffy stated.
'Friends?' Zoro looked confused.
'Yeah, you're definitely the coolest fighter I've ever seen, oh and I saw you in Bar Love once before as well but you ran out of there before I could say hi' Luffy blabbed on a little but Zoro just seemed really embarrassed.
'Erm, I have to go now' Zoro had said again seeming unsure about this.
'What? No way! I'm not going to let you go!' Luffy said in all seriousness. 'Please will you just stay until my fight?' without waiting for an answer Luffy called across the bar asking when his fight would be, to which he got a reply that he could have the next match against some unknown. Now Luffy would have to admit that he knew how to manipulate people. Ace had made him aware that he had a "very innocent looking face", something which they had both taken advantage of when trying to get money or a grown up to do something for them. So Luffy had turned his big innocent pleading eyes on Zoro and pretended that he was really upset that he would leave with a slight quiver to his lip.
'Please will you watch my fight Zoro?' Luffy sounded really down.
Zoro clearly struggled with his emotions over what to do, his face going from shock to confusion to worry to uncertainty. He clutched his sword case to his chest as some form of protection but he nodded his head slightly but wouldn't say a word further.
'Cool, watch me kick some arse!' Luffy had stated trying to appear impressive. Zoro just nodded his head as Luffy made his way towards the stage.
Luffy laughed to himself as he recollected how annoying he was, he had tried to copy Zoro by bowing to his opponent before the fight and then given the guy a speech that he should do it as well to show that he honoured the match. The guy he was fighting was probably in his thirties or something and definitely didn't want to be lectured by a little brat like himself. Luffy probably completely humiliated that guy when he had kicked his arse just as he had promised Zoro. Unfortunately after his victory, after a brief nod from Zoro when they made eye contact across the room, Zoro was once more leaving him behind in the bar.
Ace had started teasing him rotten about his failed attempts to make friends when he himself was becoming familiar with almost everyone at Whitebeard's and hanging out there much more often. Although they were nice to Luffy as well, he didn't have the same kind of friendship with them that Ace had. They all knew, however, that Luffy was having quite the obsession with Zoro. In some ways this helped them actually become closer as whenever Zoro booked in for a match at Whitebeard's they would tell Ace who would then in turn tell Luffy.
Luffy eventually got to see Zoro a handful of times every month and he pryed him open a little further on each meeting. Zoro was incredibly introverted when he was younger so every bit of information about him that Luffy gained was like a piece of treasure.
Zoro never knew his family, something he can still claim to date; they had named him then left him. He got passed around from one bad home to the next before deciding to run away at the tender age of 6 and a half. While surviving on scraps on the streets he had by pure chance wandered to Little Tokyo, a section of Grand Line near the west end densely populated with Japanese immigrants. It was very popular with tourists and boasted providing some genuine Japanese culture including food, fashion and lifestyle. It also happened to be where Zoro stumbled across a little girl who probably changed his life.
Kuina was her name, Luffy never had the pleasure of meeting her but he will be forever grateful for what she did for his friend. Apparently Zoro literally stumbled across her, as in, fell over her, down a path near her home, an old fashioned martial arts dojo run by her father. It had been dark and she was crouching in the shadows sulking about being a girl according to Zoro. She had chewed him out for falling over her, and then on the spot challenged him to a fight. Zoro at the time so sure that he wouldn't lose to a girl, especially one as snivelling as Kuina, accepted and was floored within seconds. Zoro still sometimes talks fondly of how he could never beat her but probably only when he is alone with Luffy, Zoro still kept mostly to himself even after all these years.
Zoro had provided all the excuses he could in finding an answer to why exactly he lost to a girl who was only a little bit bigger than him. He ended up spilling out that he had no home and was hungry and therefore it wasn't a fair match because he wasn't at his best. What he didn't anticipate then was to get told off for complaining then marched to her father, Koshiro, who from that night forward would provide a roof over his head, educate him and act as the parent Zoro had never known.
Zoro told Luffy about how he was homeschooled with Kuina until she turned 11 when she went to the local comprehensive school. She was two years older than Zoro so he felt that he got left behind. She would always get into trouble though and fight with the boys in her year, causing Koshiro no end of headaches. Zoro had asked her if school was really that horrible and apparently she had burst into tears on him, telling him how lucky he was to be a boy because he would become a much stronger fighter then her. Zoro was so shocked and angry because he had never beaten her in a match even once so he ended up shouting at her, telling her that she was anything but weak. They trained together with Koshiro learning various martial arts, but they favourite was kendo. They would train in secret too learning other swordsmanship techniques. Battling each other one day, Kuina had insisted that they fight using real blades instead of wooden practice ones. Zoro told Luffy about how at the time he was terrified but he couldn't back down to a girl, right?
After she had beaten him up yet again even though Zoro took the initiative of using two blades against her one katana. Kuina had cried again about him getting stronger and that she wasn't and she wouldn't because she was a girl. Flabbergasted, Zoro had initiated a promise that night that they would become the best swords people in the world because it didn't matter if she was a girl, to Zoro she was his biggest rival and the strongest person he knew and he wanted them both to be the best.
Zoro told Luffy about how they would train and train whenever they had free time; Zoro had taken to trying to fight with three swords at once which had Luffy super excited as he'd only ever seen Zoro use one at Whitebeard's. Zoro told him that he was probably really happy for that short period of time but as always good things didn't last for him.
Zoro was starting school after he turned 11, the same school as Kuina went to. What Zoro wasn't prepared for was the mass amount of teasing that came his way from other kids just because he looked a bit different. Zoro was quite self conscious about his green hair and was undoubtedly very shy although he would never admit it. He was apparently a constant target for any kind of bullying but he would never fight back because Koshiro had told him that fighting someone because of hurtful words was not honourable and never ended well.
About six months into his first year, his only friend and biggest rival fell down some stairs, landed badly and passed away hours later from the impact to her head and body. Luffy remembers being so shocked when Zoro told him this that he had even teared up when Zoro finally revealed why Kuina never came with him to his fights. She had sounded like one cool lady to Luffy. It was probably this moment when Luffy realised that Zoro had come to trust him and that he fully trusted Zoro in return. Something he could not claim easily about others. It had taken him almost a year but he and Zoro were now the closest of friends, he had a bond with someone new.
Zoro apparently only went to the fight clubs so he could continue to become stronger, to keep his promise to Kuina, to be the best. He had said that Koshiro disapproved of the bars and clubs but he had mysteriously handed Zoro Kuina's white katana on the night when Luffy had "attacked" him and he had fought Vista. Zoro was just going to sneak out a crappy practice blade for that match but Zoro was sure that Koshiro always knew what he was up, his and Kuina's dream and somehow Koshiro knew that he had a decent opponent that night. Zoro now fights for himself and Kuina. Luffy had never met anyone so honourable and honest in his life. Zoro positivity gradually rubbed off on him; Luffy knows he became more relaxed and tolerant around people. He still went to the fight bars though because really the people there were his friends now and he had decided that he wanted to protect his friends so they wouldn't get hurt like he had been.
When Luffy reached his 10th year a miracle happened. The orphanage had found someone willing to adopt himself and his brother, even more amazing was the fact they were adopted by someone who was super nice and caring. Generally older kids were incredibly unpopular for wannabe adopters, babies or very young toddlers were what everyone wanted but Makino turned up and decided to pick Ace and himself, still saying that they were only boys. Makino wasn't even super old, she was in her late twenties at the time, she never felt like a mother figure to Luffy and he doubted Ace felt that way either but she was certainly loving and protective and one of the best people Luffy knew and loved.
Luffy probably really started to chill out from then on, he had a best friend in Zoro, who would sometimes visit his new home, even though it was a fair distance away in Zone 3 and Zoro was terrible with directions. He made friends at school as well. Usopp was in his year and a number of his classes, Usopp eventually introduced him to Chopper, his next door neighbour who was a couple of years younger than them but had been moved ahead to his year. Chopper was in all the advance classes though, which Luffy and Usopp were not, they all still hung out a lot though and discussed their dreams for the future. Luffy would actually have dreams like that now.
Ace probably didn't do so well, Luffy didn't know if it was because Ace was older than him by 4 years and just couldn't handle the change so much but Ace never really liked school and would bunk it off a couple of days every week. Makino was worried about him, she even got her friend Shanks to look out for him but Ace was more interested in his friends at Whitebeard's, he even worked there a few nights a week collecting glasses like Marco used to do. Sometimes he wouldn't come home and just stayed the night but Luffy wasn't that worried, he knew he was happy there. Instead Luffy was getting on good terms with Shanks who taught him to really treasure what he actually had in life. He would bring bits of news about his father as well, Shanks' dream was to change to world just like Luffy's dad was doing, a dream that Luffy also started to take on from being so inspired by his stories.
Luffy found out that his father had changed the way a lot of people were treated in less fortunate places. He had helped to almost wipe out world slavery and fought for equal rights between men and woman. Shanks would talk so animatedly about him, when he discovered Luffy was Dragon's son. Luffy guessed that he started to hate his father less for leaving him behind. He had taken to wearing his father's straw hat, one of the few mementoes that Ace had managed to retain before they were taken to the orphanage, to remind himself of what his father had sacrificed to follow his own dream. The hat had since become his distinguishing feature.
Luffy and Zoro still went to fight bars; they still wanted to become stronger after all. A new club opened in Shabody about five years ago called Iva-chan's. Despite the tragic name, it was the most expensive and glamorous thing to hit Shabody in probably decades. Ivanikov, a huge Polish man with purple hair and a transvestite to boot bought and kitted out a massive three story building. The ground level a disco, the first floor a private bar area and the basement had a huge fight arena. The actual fight stage was sunken and about the same size as a tennis court. Spectators could stand all around the sides, or simply watch the matches on several huge screens around the room, where the stage was broadcast live.
No one had seen anything like it before and it quickly attracted a lot of people who wanted to prove their skills. Luffy and Zoro would sometimes drag Usopp and Chopper along with them, they met a lot of people, a lot of people who had grown up in these fight bars as they had, they became acquaintances but not really friends, people would group off and challenge other "teams" in "the pit" as the stage became known.
Luffy, Zoro, Usopp and Chopper had been given the name of "The Straw Hats" by Ivanikov, who had taken a particular liking to Luffy and Chopper. He would tell Luffy that he had a good spirit and he liked Chopper because he was a cute trainee doctor. Chopper often would patch up any cuts and bruises gained from the matches, he'd treat anyone even if they were a rival team and was popular with almost everyone.
It was on Zoro's 19th birthday in November when they had all met Sanji. He had literally barged into Zoro smoking like a chimney and cussing him out big style for getting in his way. In some ways Luffy thinks Sanji is the best present Zoro could have ever gotten. He laughs a bit at the thought but the addition of Sanji gave a spark to Zoro, which hadn't been there previously. Zoro was a man of discipline, honour, respect but mostly isolated himself, he was a loner. Sanji was brash, rude, an idiot around woman and in your face. All in all he completely rubbed Zoro up the wrong way.
When they inevitably arranged a match that night, the first of many to come, the fight had been even with no clear victor, much to the frustration of both. They had so many matches that Sanji ended up constantly hanging around with them all, eventually he just became one of them, and he fitted in. Although Sanji and Zoro routinely clashed, a pattern that still continues to date, Luffy noticed that they got curious about each other. Zoro never showed much interest in anyone but here he had found someone intriguing. Sanji only ever fought with his legs, always keeping his hands safely in his pockets. They got to learn that he was a chef and that he valued his hands too much to risk them in a fight. Sanji was just determined to beat the "samurai wannabe" as he would say, although Luffy knew Sanji was never happier then when he was fighting against Zoro's blades, he suspected that Sanji was a thrill seeker and lonely as hell.
Sanji was so confrontational, whereas Zoro wasn't. However, Sanji's influence managed to get Zoro to argue back, talk more, interact with others and be happier. They constantly wanted to be better then each other, therefore without either of them probably even realising; they had both become some of the strongest competitors in the district as they used each other as training partners. Sanji was Zoro's new Kuina in a way; he was that person who kept him on his toes. Luffy suspected that Zoro to Sanji, an only child to a "very crabby" single father, saw Zoro as some kind of brother figure. Whenever Sanji was frustrated about something or wanted someone to listen to his troubles, it was always Zoro he would seek out first, even if it was unintentional.
So there they were, the Straw Hat crew. Four years ago, there were only five of them. Usopp, a marksman specialist and his good friend, he wasn't the best in a close physical fight but he could certainly inflict damage at a range with his various array of pellets. He was also clever at adapting gadgets and otherwise non-threatening generic objects into super weapons. He would rarely ever lose a fight but Usopp lacked in major confidence and often lied or made up stories to cover up the fact. Chopper, he could be quite scrappy when he needed to be, Choppers strength was his intelligence, he always aimed for people's weak spots by calculating how they guarded themselves. He would then plot strategies to win, all in the space of a few minutes. Zoro protected everyone with his strength and his blades, while Sanji did the same but with his insanely strong legs. Luffy always knew he was their leader; he brought them all together and would spend time with everyone to improve their skills, knowledge and to just hang out and be their friends. Within the next year they gained Franky and Brook, they were a fair bit older than the rest of them but they still became close. Brook was a swordsman too and took great interest in Zoro, they became quite close because of it. Franky was a "life of the party" kind of guy and joined them because they were "the craziest and most fun" in Iva-chans.
It was the end of that year though, 3 years, 4 months and 17 days ago to be exact when Luffy discovered that his brother was killed or murdered. Luffy was angry all over again but more than anything felt so incredibly empty. He had certainly drifted away from his brother in his late teens, he hated himself for it now. Ace had become one of Whitebeard's crew and just wasn't around as much but he would still visit Luffy and Makino as often as he could. They would still laugh and bicker and fight but suddenly he was gone and all Luffy was left with was a useless report about the fact he was dead. No explanation why, where he was at the time or how he had passed.
Luffy twirled around the orange cowboy hat in his fingers that had once belonged to his brother. Zoro had got him out of bed with a serious look as soon as he returned from his job with Robin, which happened to be just after two in the morning. Apparently it had been agreed that Zoro would deliver the news about where CP9 had found this hat but that Robin would be more detailed about the evening events when he was ready. Luffy was grateful for that, he knew he could spill his emotions easier around Zoro, they had been through a lot together after all.
When Luffy had sat in disbelief at the briefcase presented to him, unaware of the flow of tears drifting down his face. Zoro had silently wrapped him up in a supportive hug that had made Luffy's emotions spill out completely. He had sat there until Luffy had calmed himself down, and then offered him one of his rare warm smiles as he ruffled Luffy's hair.
Luffy smiled again, he really did have the best of friends a guy could ever hope for. He was very fortunate in that. As Luffy looked back across at the snoozing swordsman, whose head was lolled back at an awkward angle, which was bound to make his neck stiff whenever he woke up again. Luffy laughed, his team were a little bit ridiculous but then that's what he loved about them. He wouldn't change them for the world.
Luffy sat with determination as dawn creeped up for a new day. He now had to think up a plan on what he wanted to do next. He needed to pay a visit to Buggy the Clown and he knew just the people who would help him. The Straw Hat crew.
