Zoro walks in to signal academy on the first day of school as far as anyone knows he is 13. Upon entering for orientation he quickly realizes he is the only student here with weapons. Not that this bothers him but he is aware of this. He decides to sit off to the side and watch the people coming in to determine if any are worth his time. Its while he is doing this that he is approached by a blonde who looks like she is wise beyond her years but trying to hide that fact.
Yang "Nice sword. Family heirloom or something?"
Zoro "or something. Thanks I work hard to keep it sharp."
Yang "I'm Yang by the way I live here in Patch. What about you? What about you where are you from?"
Zoro "My name is Zoro and I am from nowhere though I spent some time here in Patch growing up." He says this in a tone that says not to ask any further.
Yang "Nice to meet you Zoro, what brought you here? I am here because I like to fight and this is a legal way to do that."
Zoro smiles at that "One of the teachers here actually invited me himself after we fought"
Yang can't believe what she just heard fighting a teacher at his age he must be crazy or something "Any idea who it was? That's awesome we should spar some time I mean if your good enough to fight a teacher you must be good enough to fight me."
Zoro "Someone named Qrow or something like that not really sure. I suppose I could go for a spar or something sometime."
Yang can't believe what she just heard this guy fought uncle Qrow and came out with enough respect to be invited personally here. She will have to ask her uncle about this young man. At this orientation begins everyone is given their schedule and the addresses to the boarder they will be staying with if they are not local. Signal has no dorms you see so they ask people from the community to put up various students for either the whole time or term by term. It just so happens that Zoro is set to be rooming with the Xiao Longs.
After being dismissed Yang asks who he is staying with and when he tells her she says that is her family and she can show him the way if he wants. He agrees as he has no idea where anything here is. When they get there Yang asks when the rest of his stuff is set to arrive so they can go pick it up.
Zoro "Everything I own in this lifetime is here in this bag. I have no need of much."
Yang frowns when she hears that thinking this kid must have had it rough to only have a small bag of belongings but she doesn't comment. "Alright then don't be surprised if you leave here with more than just that bag."
Zoro smiles feeling for the first time in this life that warms that always came when he was with his captain. They go inside and find Tai and Ruby at the table eating cookies. When they hear the door open Ruby uses her semblance to rush over to Yang and give her a big hug and welcome her home. She then see's who is with her and she tries to hide herself in her cape. Tai walks over and greets them offering them cookies which Zoro accepts.
Tai takes them into the living room to go over rules seeing as how he usually gets girls this is his first time doing this.
Tai "Rule number 1 you can't go into the girls rooms. Rule 2 you have to have pants on at all times unless in the shower. Rule 3 if you hurt my daughters I will kill you. Do you have any problems with these rules?"
Zoro "No issues for me where will I be staying?"
Tai shows him to his bedroom explains the bathroom is down the hall and if he needs anything to go ahead and ask. Zoro thanks the man and asks where he could train sword body and mind. Tai takes him out back.
Tai "I don't know about mind but out here you should be able to train that sword of yours and most definitely the body this is where we train your welcome to join us anytime."
Zoro nods "I may take you up on that but I want to assess you before I commit to anything the last training partner I had it didn't work out well"
Tai "I can understand that not wanting to put yourself in a situation where you'll get hurt outside of school."
Zoro "You misunderstand we where to unevenly matched and I ended up hurting him though what he was doing with me I could not tell you. Seeing as he was a full huntsman and I was perhaps 10"
This catches everyone by surprise, he was training with a full huntsman at 10 and was so beyond them he hurt them.
Tai "Well that makes sense as well. New rule no sparring with my daughters without myself or Qrow present."
Zoro "Does Qrow frequent here he was a fun fight I would like to fight him again? I can accept that rule."
Tai "You fought Qrow already that would explain why you got roomed with me. He is the kids Uncle and stays here most nights during the school year."
Zoro "Yeah it was how I got into Signal in the first place, he basically dragged me here and enrolled me. That's good to know."
They go back inside and have a nice evening together getting to know each other. More Zoro learning about them as he is like trying to get water from a rock when he doesn't want to talk.
That next morning Zoro gets up with the sun as is his custom and makes his way to the training yard to begin his daily training regime. This body is no where near as strong as he was at his peak but knowing what he knows now he believes he can be even stronger. He begins by chopping down one of the bigger trees in the yard and begins his workout. After a few hours he notices he has company he had kept his Haki attuned for Grimm but not people. He puts the tree down wipes his brow with his shirt and stares at everyone with a curious gaze.
Zoro "what are you staring for?"
Yang "How long have you been out here? We are staring because we went to wake you for breakfast and couldn't find you only for you to be out here benching a tree like it was nothing."
Zoro "I don't know since I got up this morning about the same time as the sun I guess. Yeah I forgot to ask if you had weights yesterday so I improvised though it's a touch light so I had to increase reps to make up for it."
Tai can't believe what he just heard that tree weighs 1000 pounds and its to light this boy must be crazy. "breakfast is ready come inside and eat."
They retreat inside for pancakes. While they are eating Ruby can't seem to take her eyes off his sword not because its complex but rather because its simple and beautiful. Zoro notices this and issues a stern warning to Ruby.
Zoro "This sword is cursed if it deems you unworthy it will drain all your life essence and leave you a dry husk. Even if it finds you worthy it is overzealous when it cuts unless you tame it it will cut far more than you intend. So please little one I ask you do not touch this sword I have seen it take far to many people I do not wish it to take you as well."
Everyone hears this and the reaction is mixed. Ruby is terrified and tries to hide under her hood hoping that he won't see her. Yang is angry that he would say such things to her sister. Tai is angry because he doesn't believe Zoro and thinks he is making it up to scare his girls.
Tai "Remember our rules Zoro no hurting my girls, that includes fancy stories about cursed swords that kill people." He is not doing a great job of hiding his anger
Zoro "Your rules are why I mentioned it at all. Would you like to follow me outside and I can show you what I mean?"
Tai thinks this is a grand idea if for no other reason than to perhaps set Ruby's worries at ease. They go out back.
Zoro "I will pull the sword without exerting my full will upon it. Watch for I will only do this once it does not feel good." He grabs his sword and as soon as it comes out of its sheath his arms turns black and begins loosing muscle definition and mass. Once he is satisfied they have seen the effects he excerpts full control and his arm is restored.
Tai "got it no one touches that sword rule 5. Rule 6 it never leaves your side am I clear on that?"
Zoro "I can abide those rules for now someday your daughters might prove worthy of the sword though and if that happens they will be safe."