Zoro's got skillz. Sometimes.

Sorry it has taken so long to update. This has been written for well over a month now, I just never got around to updating. Thanks so much to all my reviewers!

Disclaimer: I reviewed the terms and conditions. It doesn't say I have to put a disclaimer in.

A – I

"I'm telling you, you can't just charge in there like you always do!"

"Why not?! It always works! I'll just beat up the guy in charge and we'll be done!"

"Because you won't be able to get to the 'guy in charge' if you make a huge scene at the entrance!"

Luffy and the leader of the rebel army, Alrin, glared daggers at each other. The tension was palpable.

The Strawhats had gotten their noses stuck in another internal battle. Currently, they were with the officers of the rebel army in the 'war room', the main tent where battle plans and strategies were created. In the center of the room, surrounded by rebel leaders and Strawhats alike, was a large circular table, an intricately drawn map of the inner city and the enemy's heavily fortified battle fort held down by weights and painted wooden pieces were scattered across the map, indicating various rebel and enemy troops. Usopp and Franky had carved surprisingly detailed figurines of the various Strawhats to add to the map, complete with trademark weapons.

Luffy pushed his 'mini-me' towards the entrance of the fort. "I'm telling you, I'll just bust in here and get to that square and beat him down!" He illustrated this by pushing the figurine straight towards the 'square' that indicated the enemy leader, completely ignoring the various walls and obstacles that actually blocked the path. His ability to visualize the battle ground was limited at best.

Alrin smacked his hand to his forehead in exasperation. "And I'm telling you, there is no direct line from the entrance to his bunker! It's a separate room with only one entrance. You can't bust through the walls of it because it's lined with seastone metal. Not only that, but you are completely ignoring all the rest of his troops, not to mention his 10 officers!" Said squares were pointed to.

As they continued to bicker, their argument devolving from planning a strategy to arguing about whether grilled meat was better than fried, Robin glanced over at the rest of her nakama.

She still got a happy tingle whenever she thought about that word. The fact that she was able to apply it to so many people never ceased to amaze her. Nami, the only other female member and possibly one of her closest friends among the crew, was groaning in embarrassment as she watched her captain argue the benefits of grilled meat.

Smiling, Robin let her eyes wonder to Brook, their skeleton musician who was laughing merrily at the spectacle. Franky was in a corner, his huge mostly metal form filling a quarter of the entire room. He was tinkering with some random part of his own body, either fixing or upgrading. Usopp and Chopper were watching him, stars in their eyes as they did, excited about the prospect of a robot upgrade.

Sanji, their blonde cook was fawning over a female leader, giving lengthy descriptions of her beauty, a beating heart in place of his only visible eye. The female was steadfastly ignoring him.

The member she was most surprised at was their quiet swordsman Zoro. She expected him to be sitting against the wall or a barrel, sleeping while he waited for the captain to tell him when he could fight. Instead, he was standing near the table, his arms folding, looking down on the map with a surprisingly intense expression. His right eye, the only one that worked now, was roving over the map, taking in all the pieces and their locations.

She raised a brow. What are you thinking about, Zoro-kun? She wondered to herself.

Her silent question was answered a few minutes later. At that point, both captains had started to argue about whose impressions were more accurate, Luffy acting out his crew, and Alrin acting out his own members, much to the enjoyment of several members of both sides.

"Oi, Luffy." Luffy paused in his Usopp impression (which involved stretching out his own nose) to look over at Zoro. "Let's do 'Plan J'."

The majority of the Strawhats were confused but Luffy brightened. "Oh yeah! 'Plan J!" There was a pause. "What's 'Plan J'?" Nami punched him in the head.

"Don't act like you know what he's talking about if you don't!" She reprimanded.

"If it's marimo's plan, it's going to be just as ridiculous as Luffy's. Don't listen to him sweet Erin-chwa~n!" He turned back to said female leader, whose stern expression hadn't changed in the slightest since they started this 'planning' session.

Zoro growled at the cook but ignored him instead of getting into their usual arguments.

"Listen up." He began and started to reveal 'Plan J'.

The sign that signaled the end of the battle was Luffy shooting the enemy's leader into the sky, bloody, broken, and unconscious, with a final 'jet pistol' punch. Robin smiled as she watched the body drop to the ground in a surprisingly graceful arc. It reminded her of her first adventure with the Strawhats and Crocodile's demise. Ah, memories.

They gathered, somehow, on the steps of the fort. Those that were injured were seen to by a kind-hearted doctor-reindeer, who was alternating between kindly seeing to some patients and angrily yelling at others *cough Zoro cough* to stop moving and stop taking off the bandages.

The rest were gearing up for what was likely to be a spectacular celebration. Meat, both grilled and fried, was supplied to both leaders' joy. Sake and various booze was also rolled out which signaled the end of Zoro's treatment.

While the party was in full swing, Robin went over and sat down next to Zoro who had out-drunk several people and was simply enjoying the sake by himself, watching the antics of the crew with a small smile.

"May I sit here?" Robin asked. She settled on the broken marble pillar that he was resting on when he gave a curt nod. She took a cup of sake when proffered.

"Apparently it didn't matter whether it is grilled or fried." Robin observed. Indeed, Luffy was currently inhaling his nth fried meat leg while Alrin was munching on some grilled meat. Zoro snorted in amusement.

"They're both idiots. Meat is meat to them. It doesn't matter how it's prepared."

"Poor Sanji." She giggled. "He puts so much effort into his work." Said man was cooking along with the rest of the cooks, all of them gazing in awe at his skill.

"Nah." Zoro took another swig of sake. "Luffy appreciates the love-cook's food." Robin smiled enigmatically.

"And you? Do you appreciate his food?" Zoro raised a brow at her grin. He didn't answer, simply shrugged. She giggled. After a moment of calm, she broke the silence.

"That was quite an ingenious plan you created." He raised a brow. "I never realized you had skills in battle strategy." He gave a bark of laughter.

"Someone's got to on our floating asylum. Our captain sure doesn't." Said captain was trying to stick another whole leg of meat into his already overfilling mouth, even stretched as it was. She smiled.

"Indeed. I suppose it's the responsibility falls to you more often than not to lead us." Zoro shook his head.

"I don't lead. Luffy does. I follow, just like you guys." Robin smiled.

"Indeed."

I'm rereading OP and I got to the Alabasta arc where Zoro thought of the X under the bandage to counter act Mr. 2's devil fruit. That paired with that scene in the Dressrosa Arc created this plot bunny.