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"Killed?" Zoro asked watching guilt cover Zatarra's pale face. She nodded once, seemingly waiting for something to happen.
"We were sold to an evil family, they would put us in a pit and make us fight, in the beginning we all refused to fight one another." She said turning back to her pot, pulling a mitten on and moving the bubbling pot away from the flames.
"You can't sell humans," Zoro mumbled more to himself than to the ghost of a woman in front of him. He heard her scoff and shake her pale soft curls, "What happened?" Zoro asked out of sheer curiosity.
"The family began to offer us things," She replied softly. "At one point we all lived in a small room together, splitting our food rations evenly, we were starving, filthy and living with mice but we felt good about our choice to not fight each other. There was a man and his son there, the boy was young, the family went after them first, they told the father they would feed the boy better, put them both in better rooms, things of that nature. We all understood when the father went to fight against the others, we knew he had to. The father and boy came back to convince most of the others to fight so that they, too, could live with them." Zatarra picked up a bowl and filled it with stew, setting it down on the table near Zoro's empty chair. "One by one, everyone left, until it was just I and one other. We stayed strong for years, until one day the guards stopped coming down, no food, no baths, no one to change the bucket in the corner, it was horrible. We were both near death when I rolled over to see a bright light come into the room, the head of the family that owned us asked if we would fight to live and we both agreed."
"What else could you have done?" Zoro asked confused. Zatarra shook her head,
"I had to fight to live," She said nodding as if Zoro had said nothing. "About six years later, I was doing well for myself, I live in the upper levels of the house, I even had a servant," She let out a deep breath, shaking her head, "I was stupid and arrogant, I didn't even recognize the boy,"
"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to,"
"I killed the boy right in front of his father," She put her hands on her face and cried empty tears, "No one from our group would talk to me anymore, I understood, I tried apologizing but no one wanted to hear my cries. So the discord rung throughout the house, I was alone, but I knew why, it was my own doing. I went to the head of the family and asked to be sold elsewhere, the family agreed because I was costing them money, the people were refusing to fight until I was gone but I brought in the most people, so he was at a loss either way. He sold me the following day but before I went, I took all the money from my past fights and bought every person I could and freed them." She laughed lightly, "They still hadn't forgiven me, and they threw whatever was in the room at me, fruits, and plates, whatever they could grab."
"What did you do?" Zoro asked with raised eyebrows,
"I let them do it, I stood there until there was nothing left for them to hurt me with," Zatarra replied gripping her arm, the safety of the wooden spoon in her small hand. "It's where I got nearly all my scars from but I deserved it for killing the boy so I didn't mind it, I still don't." Zoro put his hand on Zatarra's arm and pulled her back into his warm embrace, she closed her eyes for a moment feeling the rock hard chest that was also so warm and comforting. Zoro lightly kissed Zatarra's ivory colored hair,
"You didn't deserve that, you didn't even know who it was. You can either let that destroy you or make you stronger, a long time ago I made a promise with a friend to be the best, the strongest and even though she's no longer on this earth, I let it make me stronger, build me up and motivate me not the other way around." Zoro felt Zatarra nod her head, he lifted her face by her chin, the soft redness by her eyes made her seem so innocent and childlike, he could hardly believe what she had been through but then again, stranger things have happened out on the ocean.