Chapter 7: Swords

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During the night, Zoro couldn't sleep. He felt tired, but not enough to be sleepy. He kept thinking about the swords and where he might've seen them. He knew he shouldn't worry like Luffy had said. But he couldn't let it go. He sighed as he tried closing his eyes again, but he kept visualizing him using the swords in his hands and one in his mouth, cutting down faceless opponents. He would open his eyes and find out that he only dozed off for fifteen minutes. He really should sleep, but he couldn't with these thoughts buzzing around in his mind.

"Zoro?"

He looked at where the voice was coming from.

"Aren't you tired at all?" Luffy asked, obviously still a bit sleepy.

"I couldn't sleep." He admitted.

Luffy got up and saw the time. "It's four o' clock in the morning…"

"I know…"

"Let's go on the roof."

"Huh?"

"We'll be able to see the sun rise in another hour or so."

"It'll be freezing cold though."

"Not if we make hot cocoa."

"You know Sanji will try to kill you if you even stepped into the kitchen."

"What he won't know won't kill him." He said with a giggle. "And he can't kill me."

"That's true." Zoro said as he got up as well. "So, you still want to sleep another hour?"

"I'm starting to wake up though."

"Okay then. Well, we better get something warm if we're going to see the sunrise."

Luffy nodded excitedly as he got out, ran to the drawers, grabbed some warm clothing, threw some to Zoro, and started to get dressed.

Zoro turned away as he got dressed, and once that was done, he followed the other to the kitchen, where they had a time looking for the cocoa, while also trying not to make too much of a racket.

-XxX-

Once they did find the cocoa, they set the mugs out, Luffy put the cocoa powder in, and both waited for the water to boil, which then Zoro poured the steaming water into the mugs and went up to the roof, where it was still dark.

"What's been on your mind?" Luffy asked.

"Just those swords again." Zoro said, finding that telling the other the truth seemed to make him feel more at ease. "Every time I close my eyes, I see myself holding those same swords and cutting down every opponent that was in my way. Then I would wake up fifteen minutes later and wonder about it."

"Must be bugging the hell out of you, huh?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"I had the same problem when my brother left."

"Your brother?"

Luffy nodded. "He was my partner up about three years ago." He looked at his steaming mug of cocoa. "He left because he was pursuing someone. Someone who murdered their partner and ran off with something valuable. No one knows what it is, but Ace wanted to make sure that he gets the guy and get him to pay up for his crime."

"And he hasn't catched him yet?"

Luffy shook his head. "No news of it yet. With us Runners, we get information in a very short amount of time." He blew on his cocoa before continuing. "The thing is, the guy that he's chasing, belonged to a different organization group called the White Beards. But the guy that runs that did help Ace out when I was bedridden for a few weeks."

"Bedridden?"

"It was an explosion and I was lucky to only get the small force from it. But it could've gone worse if I wasn't able to get out. Then I was thrown around a lot because of the blast to some industrial stuff… Then I don't remember what happened afterwards, but when I woke up, everyone was really happy to see me. I must've scared them…"

Zoro watched the other with a kind of new respect. "Shit… I had no idea…"

"You never asked. Though, I don't like talking about it either. But I can tell you since you're my partner."

"What will happen if your brother does come back?"

"Then he'll either join White Beards or help Shanks. But I think he's going to be in White Beards."

"He can do that?"

"Yep, it's nothing new." Luffy said as he took a sip of his cocoa. "Some leave one group for another because they can't handle the group, needed to branch out, or just want to join in something that can help better themselves. Ace will join that group because the leader treats him like a son and he has full respect to the whole organization. But overall, he just likes that group."

"But what about you?"

"Huh? What about me?"

"Were you okay with this?"

"Of course! I want my brother happy, and I have my own group already, it's just that Shanks is overlooking it for now. But soon he has to go back to his group once they return from the other cities."

"Huh? Why was Shanks group in different cities?"

Luffy chuckled. "To spread the Runner's idealology."

"No way…"

"Way." Luffy said as he looked at the horizon, only to see a bit of a change of color. "It's about to come up!" He said excitedly.

Zoro looked as well and just looked at the horizon until the light nearly blinded him. He heard the other giggle as he looked again, and he had to admit, it was pretty amazing sight.

"If I do ever get out of this city…" Luffy said. "I would like to take the group to a city that's by the ocean."

"The ocean?"

Luffy nodded. "I've always seen pictures of it, but I wanted to see it one day. But I think it would be better to hold a base and live there. That way we can always have a great view of the ocean."

Zoro looked at the other before taking a gulp of his cocoa. "Sounds really great." He said.

"I'm glad you agreed. I mentioned it to the others, and they seem to like it as well. Plus Vivi doesn't have to go such a long way to get to see her family."

"You've found a city already?"

Luffy nodded. "Yeah… it's called Louge City." He smiled. "If you think we're amazing Runners, you should've heard the King of Runners."

"King of Runners?"

Luffy nodded. "Louge City was where he was born and died. And Shanks learned from him."

"Just how far back does this Runner's thing go?"

Luffy shrugged. "Who knows. I just want to be in the place where the buildings are just like this city, with a great ocean view."

Zoro blinked as the sun kept coming up. He then looked back to seeing the sunrise. "I hope its soon. I want to see this place myself."

Luffy looked at his partner and smiled. "Yeah!"

-XxX-

Both finished their mugs of cocoa and were about to head in when Zoro seemed to be looking at a particular area.

"What's wrong?"

Zoro didn't answer as he waited before going in. "I thought there was something out there."

"Really?"

"It could be just me though." He said as they caught a whiff of breakfast being made.

"Morning Sanji!" Luffy called as he tackled the man from behind.

"Luffy! Get off of me!"

"When will breakfast be done? I'm hungry!"

"Soon, now get the hell off!"

Luffy did and headed to Zoro when there was a loud bang from the roof.

"The hell was that?" Sanji asked as he ran out to see what was going on.

"I don't know." Luffy said when another bang was heard, this time the sound of something heavy falling to the ground was heard and someone entering went into the meeting room.

"Don't move!" Said a group of cops as they held their guns out.

"Shit!" Sanji said as he complied.

Luffy and Zoro did as well before the group entered to see what was going on as well, which they followed the order as well.

Zoro, however felt a tug in his mind as he glanced at the displayed swords and knew he was able to get them fast enough before anyone got hurt, but he also know that these men were cops. And that means media will confirm their already framed name to be true. But upon closer look, these men lacked something that will label them as the law. He didn't wait any longer as he shoved Luffy down to the ground to avoid being hit by the bullets, grabbed the first two swords to deflect the bullets before getting the last one, placed it in his mouth, and charged towards the imposters and, within a blink of an eye, the imposters were down.

The group couldn't believe what they had just saw and had to double take on what just happened.

Luffy was the first to recover as he ran up to Zoro. "You were so awesome Zoro! So you can use the swords!"

Zoro took the sword with the white handle out of his mouth and stared at the bodies. "I guess I can."

"That means those swords are yours for good, right Shanks?" He looked over at his guardian, who has yet picked his jaw off the floor. In fact everyone was shocked. "You guys look weird." He said as he smelled something burning. "Uh, Sanji, breakfast…"

"Crap!" Sanji recovered as he ran into the kitchen, shouting profanities while he was at it.

"I can't believe it…" Nami said as she and Vivi fell to their knees.

"We have a swordsman to our group…" Usopp said.

"Is there any other groups with swordsmen?" Chopper asked.

"I can fence, but nothing at that level." Brook said.

"Well…" Shanks said as he gathered himself together. "There's not much else we can do." He smiled. "Consider this a bit of a raise in your salary, Roronoa-san. For saving us."

"That really isn't necessary…" Zoro said, a bit uncomfortable with all the stares heading his way.

"Oh well! Tough luck!" Shanks said with good humor. "Oi! When will breakfast be done!?"

"I have to remake the damn thing because of those guys! Oi! Luffy! Get your ass in here! You're eating the burned ones!"

"Yosha!" Luffy said.

"You eat things that are burned." Zoro said.

"And off the floor!" He said with a smile.

He shook his head. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

"Yep! Aren't you hungry too?"

"I'll wait for mine."

Luffy shrugged. "You're loss." He said as he ran in.

"Whatever." He said as he sat at the table, after sheathing the swords in.

"We're going to have to find you a belt to keep those on you without them falling." Nami said.

"Yeah…" He said as everyone assembled to the table and waited for Sanji to finish making breakfast and start their daily work, except for him and Luffy, who didn't like the idea of being grounded again.