Chapter 25

"And welcome back to Alvida's Confessions! And here's your host! Alvida!" Called out the announcer as the camera zoomed in on a woman who is quite beautiful with ivory pale skin molded like a Greek statue, dark brunette hair that went down to her back, eyes like dark chocolate and lips like rose petals that reveal pearl white teeth.

"Hello, and welcome back to the show. Tonight we're going to interview the last of the group, Nakama Voice, and all of us know who he is by now." She said with a false sweet smile. "Let's welcome Roronoa Zoro!"

There was a loud applause when Zoro entered the studio room, waved with an easy smile, and sat down on the couch that the other members were forced to sit before.

"So, Roronoa-san, are you familiar with this show?"

"I've seen enough of you tormenting everyone else to know." Zoro said bluntly.

"Oh, of couse! How silly of me!" She said with a fake laugh before thinking. 'I'm going to enjoy torturing this bastard!' She smiled as she got her cards up. "Now then! Let's start off easy."

"Fine." He said as he relaxed on the chair and looking bored already.

"What was it like when you were a child?"

Zoro grinned. "I was an orphan for the longest time and was never adopted. But when I heard Luffy, before he got himself a talented group, I felt at ease most of the time. Yeah, I became one of his fans, and when I heard that there was an opening for some talent for another member, I signed up and I was on my way back when some jerk hit me and left me there to die."

There was an uncomfortable silence in the studio as Zoro continued as if he didn't notice.

"Obviously I lived through that, but the experience made me lose my voice. But at that time I learned to play guitar, so that wasn't much of an issue."

"I see, anything else that could hinder your ability to be part of the music business?"

At the studio, the group were dead silent, fearing that the other wouldn't answer.

Zoro grinned. "I'm deaf."

The studio now had a heavy atmosphere followed by a 'WTF?' response.

"So… you can't hear… at all?" Alvida asked, not really sure what to make of the guy.

"Not a peep." He said coolly like it wasn't a big deal. "And if you're wondering how I can understand you, I can read lips very well. And as far as music goes, I rely on vibrations of my guitar and memorizing the music notes that I and the group make together."

"Uh huh…" Alvida said as she placed the cards down, seeing that she won't need them. "And why is it that you can gauge your tone of voice to sing without listening to your own voice?"

"Like I told you, through vibrations." He said easily as he placed a hand on his throat. "You can easily feel it. Every tone has a different vibration, just like a guitar has different string thickness or a piano's. By knowing my own vibrations, I can cue in on what pitch and tone to use when I have to sing in a song. With this I will know what's exactly wrong if I happen to get the wrong pitch. A lot of singers have the problem of over practicing their voice to the point where their voices get raspy and can't sing for a certain period of time."

The atmosphere changed to that of awed curiousity.

"But what if someone is trying to get your attention?"

Zoro laughed. "All they have to do is yell and I can sense their sound waves."

"Sound waves?"

"Air born vibrations. Bats are a great example of this, because at night they have limited vision, but they make a sound and if there's food nearby, their sound bounces off of their prey and follow that to find their food. With me, when someone yells out for my attention, those sound waves gets to my eardrum, giving it a hollow echo. So even though I don't hear the person's voice, I can assume they're getting my attention, especially if they're getting louder."

"How do you know which person is trying to get your attention?"

"Every tone is unique. For example, Nami and Robin are both female and I assume you know their voices are different, correct?"

Alvida nodded, a bit curious to learn more but also put off because this isn't what she planned to do at all.

"Well for me, it's also the same thing. Nami's voice is a little higher than Robin's and there's a unique tone that shows that she's the demanding type. Robin's is smoother with an airy tone."

"I see… What a mysterious ability you have."

"Thanks, I take great pride in it."

1-2-3-4

In the background, both Lucci and Kaku were stumped.

'That bastard!' Lucci thought. 'He's mocking us by being unaffected and being actually truthful about that!'

"Lucci, calm down…" Kaku whispered. "Alvida still has a lot of questions to ask him."

"You're right…" He said as he continued to watch.

1-2-3-4

"Okay… Let's see what other questions we can ask you." Alvida said as she looked through her cards, taking out the ones that were either answered or not going to bother using and looked at the other in the eye.

"What's your relationship with each of the members?" She asked innocently.

"Ace is like an older brother with the bad case of worrying over about everyone, Franky is like a crazy cousin that you like to have around for a laugh and a good time, Robin is like another cousin that you can't get no matter how hard you try, Brook is like a fun uncle that brings life to the party, Chopper is like a cute little brother that you just can't help think he's cute, Usopp is like a brother that's a bit on the clingy side but he makes great stories and is very creative in many ways, Nami is like an annoying sister but you can't help but feel some kind of respect of her strength, and Sanji…" He chuckled a bit. "Sanji is like a brother you love to hate but hate to love, but at the end of the day we end up having bumps the size of oranges by Nami." He took a moment to laugh at that along with the audience, finding this humorous as well. "As for Luffy…" He looked serious. "Like Ace, I feel protective of him and if I ever see him cry or hurt…" He looked at the woman straight in her eyes. "They have better be lucky not to find me alone, because I'm not afraid of the consequences."

"What if the consequences break you?" Alvida asked, getting scared of the man before her.

"Like I said, 'I'm not afraid'…" He continued to stare at the woman before closing his eyes and sighed. "Anymore questions?"

She started to fumble with her cards, but then placed all of them on the table. "There's no more questions to be discussed at this time…"

"Okay." He said as he got up. "Thank you for inviting me here, I got a lot out of my chest."

"You're welcome… Thank you for coming."

"No problem. You know where to find me if you have any more questions." He said as he got up and walked out of the shocked silence studio.

1-2-3-4

When he got back to the studio, with some help from the taxi driver, he was immediately hugged by Luffy. "Luffy? Everything okay?" He asked as everyone else came up.

"You were amazing out there!" Chopper said.

"Showed that bitch who's boss!" Franky said with a laugh.

"And the part where you refered us as your family," Ace said as he did the 'okay' sign. "That was damn sweet!"

Zoro smiled. "I meant it you know…" He said as everyone looked at him. "Like I said, I was an orphan and was never adopted…" He looked at everyone and smiled. "This may sound stupid coming from me, but I see all of you as family. A bit crazy and a bit dysfunctional, but I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Chopper cried and hugged the man along with Luffy, then Ace joined in, followed by a brawling Franky and Brook.

Nami shook her head, but she had a grin on her face. "For once, I completely agree with you." She said mostly to herself as she looked over at the others, who had smiles on their faces and the air just felt better, as if they were able to breathe again.

"Guys! I can't breathe! Damn it!" Zoro called out as he was being crushed by the hugs he was getting.