Ch.2- Zoro: If I Were Never Born

Disclaimer: One Piece or its characters aren't mine except for Angel 1189.

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SWING! BLOCK! SWING! PAIN! It was happening again. It was ten-year-old Roronoa Zoro's turn to fight Kuina and as usual, she wasn't giving him any mercy. As soon as the second swing came, both Zoro and Kuina knew that she had beaten him…again. He never won against her. It was like Kuina had cast a curse on him so he could never beat her.

"The winner…Kuina. That makes 512 for Kuina, 0 for Zoro." Sensei announced.

All the boys in the dojo groaned. They hated seeing their best friend being beaten by a girl. Of course, none of them had beaten her, either.

"Dammit! I lost again!" Zoro shouted, moving a hand onto his aching face.

Kuina turned and walked away from him. She never tried to help him onto his feet when she knocked him down.

With a nod from his sensei, Zoro walked away from the dojo and to the nearby stream. The cool water felt good splashed onto his hot and sweaty face, but no matter how much water was splashed onto his face, he was still burning with anger on the inside. It seemed as if he would never ever be able to defeat her in a match even if he trained almost constantly. It wouldn't matter. She'd still beat him.

It was now December, just two days before Christmas, actually, and Kuina still wouldn't let him win. Looking down the stream, Zoro saw her hitting her wooden sword against some stakes in the ground. He saw sweat rolling down her face. He let out a groan. He knew that she was planning on beating him the next day.

"Damn her!" Zoro muttered before heading the opposite direction of Kuina, to his own weights so he could train, giving him a chance to win against Kuina. He trained long. He trained hard. He trained until he was fully confident that Kuina would lose to him on their next match the next day. Now, he just had to wait.

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SWING! BLOCK! SWING! PAIN! "The winner…Kuina! That makes 513 for Kuina, 0 for Zoro." Sensei announced.

Zoro placed a hand on his aching face, "Dammit! All that training for nothing!" The other boys tried to help Zoro onto his feet, but the green haired boy pushed them away and walked out of the dojo for a little walk to get rid of some of the anger burning inside.

After his walk, Zoro walked back to the dojo and stopped to listen to a conversation going on inside between Sensei and five other adults.

"That Roronoa boy…he still hasn't won." the first adult stated. "No, he hasn't." Sensei agreed.

"I mean, you would have expected him to defeat Kuina by now." the second adult stated.

"But neither have we." the third admitted.

"Sensei, the rest of us have a request to make." the fourth adult said.

"What is it?" Sensei asked.

"We feel as if both of them fight in the same dojo, then this place will look bad." the fourth said.

"What are you saying?" Sensei asked.

"We want you to make either Zoro or Kuina stop fighting here at the dojo…kick one of them out." the fifth demanded. All the other adults agreed.

Sensei stared at them, "I'm not kicking my daughter out."

Before he could say anything else, the first adult shouted, "Then it's out with Roronoa Zoro!"

Zoro didn't want to listen to any more of the conversation. Feeling hurt inside, Zoro ran from the dojo and to the little stream and stared angrily at his reflection in the water. "This sucks! The dojo is going to look bad and it's all because of me! I wish I had never been born! This world would be better without me!" Zoro shouted.

Suddenly, Zoro spotted a young girl a year or two older than him.

"Oh, really?" The girl asked. Zoro jumped and turned towards the girl. Her golden hair was in curls halfway down her back. Her eyes were a very bright green. A long, white gown was covering her body and feet and the angel wings on her back were almost as big as she was.

"Who are you?" Zoro asked the girl.

The girl smiled, "I am Angel 1189."

Zoro laughed, "1189? Hahaha! What a stupid name!"

The girl blushed, "1189 means 'Ari'! My name is Ari!" The girl took a step forward and tripped over her gown. Zoro laughed harder. Ari picked herself up off the ground, "Dammit! I'm getting rid of this stupid outfit!"

Immediately, Ari ripped the curls off her head, the wings off her back, and the gown off her body. With her fingers, she took two lenses off her eyes. Now she looked different. Her blonde hair was now a lavender color, shoulder length, and straight. Her clothes were a pair of blue pants, a baby blue shirt, and a pair of cute black shoes, but the most interesting thing of all was her eyes. Her eyes were blue, but there was a streak of brown in the shape of a lightening bolt going down the middle of each eye.

"So, this is how you really look?" Zoro asked Ari.

Ari nodded and cleared her throat, "Now, you said that you wished you were never born, am I right?" Zoro nodded. Ari smiled, "Well, this is your lucky day. I get to show you what life would be like if you were never born. Any questions? No? Okay, let's go."

"Wait, don't you need the wings to fly?" Zoro asked.

Ari shook her head, "Nah. That whole outfit was just to make me look cute. I have powers to make me fly without wings." Grabbing Zoro's hand, Ari floated up into the sky and came down a second later.

Zoro looked around at where he was, "Why did you take me to my house?"

"This isn't your house. Right now this house belongs to Roronoa Riku and his wife Naoko." Ari answered.

"That's my mom and dad." Zoro told her.

Ari shook her head, "Correction: they would have been your mom and dad if you had been born, but you haven't."

Zoro ignored her and walked into the house. Sitting at a table was a green haired woman. Lying on a nearby couch was a sleeping green haired man.

"Hey, Mom! I'm back!" Zoro said to the woman. The woman did nothing but sip the cup of tea she had in front of her. "Mom!" Zoro shouted. The woman kept drinking.

Zoro turned to Ari, who had walked up to him, "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing. This is what your life at home would be like if you were never born." Ari answered.

"Why won't she respond?" Zoro asked.

Ari smacked a hand on her forehead, "Damn! I knew I'd forget to mention something on my first job. Nobody can see, hear, or feel us."

Zoro shook his head, "That's a lie!"

Ari shrugged, "Well then, try shaking your parents."

Zoro nodded, "I will." He placed a hand on his mother's leg, but it went right through. Zoro jumped in surprise and walked over to his sleeping father. He moved a hand to his father's shoulder so he could shake and wake him up. Again, Zoro's hand went right through his father's shoulder.

"Oh, and I should let you know this: your parents have been acting like this for ten years. Now, if they had a child, their lives wouldn't have been so boring. Oh well. Now, let's take a look at the dojo." Ari told him. In a second, Zoro and Ari were at the dojo. There was a list on the wall of the names of the students. The list had very few names on it.

He saw Kuina fighting against an older boy and beating him. She didn't look like she changed except for she didn't look like she had been training very much. Outside of the dojo, he saw the five adults that had the discussion about him and Kuina. This discussion was now just about Kuina.

"I'm dropping out. I can't stand her." one of the adults stated.

Another nodded, "She makes us all look like weaklings. Hell, I get scared just fighting her."

"I know what you mean. Thanks to her, the students have been dropping out quickly. It's just a matter of time before this dojo closes down." A third agreed.

Zoro turned to Ari, "What are they talking about?"

Ari let out a sigh, "You were the only person determined to beating Kuina and weren't afraid to fight her. She used to train a lot because she thought you'd beat her one day and you inspired the other students to try their best. Come on, let's go." Ari grabbed his arm.

"So, that's all I'm going to see?" Zoro asked.

Ari shook her head, "Nope. I'm going to show you parts of the future, but I won't tell you who the people you will see are." In a second, Ari took Zoro to a little town where a dark haired boy in a straw hat was having problems fighting a clown. "Without you around, this battle would have been much easier to win."

With the snap of a finger, Zoro found himself in a quiet little village. The straw hat boy, an orange haired girl, and a long-nosed boy were looking down a hill with oil dripping down the side.

"Wait, I hear something coming from the north." the girl stated.

"No-north?" the long-nosed boy asked.

"What's wrong?" the straw hat boy asked.

"There's another port on the north side of town." the long nosed boy answered sheepishly.

Zoro saw the boys run off and the girl slip down the oil hill. He saw a group of pirates run by the long-nosed boy and into the village. Not too much later, Zoro found the town destroyed, its citizens minus the long-nosed boy killed, and a man in glasses sail away with a large amount of money. "Could I have changed this?" Zoro asked.

Ari nodded, "Oh yeah. Now, let's see another."

Ari lifted Zoro into the air and brought him to another small town. The straw hat boy, long-nosed boy, and a man with a curly eyebrow were fighting a group of fish people. They were exhausted. Nearby, the girl was surrounded by a group of dead people. On the girl's lap was the head of a woman with light blue hair. The girl was crying and stroking the woman's hair.

"See, Zoro. If it weren't for you, this village would be okay and everybody would be alive." Ari told him, brushing away a tear, "Now, let's go. This place is making me cry." In a second, Ari brought him to a medium sized town. The girl was being chased by a blue haired woman and a man with blades on his arms and legs. The girl, with her staff, defeated the woman, but when it came to the man, the girl didn't stand a chance. The man quickly sliced and killed the girl.

"Was I supposed to help her?" Zoro asked.

Ari nodded, "Without you, this girl would be dead. Now, I'm going to show you one more."

Ari brought Zoro to another medium sized town. Standing on a platform in chains and alone, was a little green haired girl. The green haired girl looked at the crowd walking passed her, some of the people making faces or throwing things at her. Finally, a man took off all her chains, grabbed her bag, and shoved her to a ship full of grown men, criminals. The second she got in there, the men advanced on the girl. The little girl screamed for help, but none came.

"I could have helped this girl?" Zoro asked.

Ari nodded, "Yeah, without you this slave girl is forced to live a life I don't even want to think about.

"Is that everything that's going to change?" Zoro asked.

Ari roughly shook her head, "No, there's more. I'm just not going to show you everything." In a second, Ari brought him back to the stream.

"Hey, Ari?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah?" Ari answered.

"Are you my Guardian Angel?" Zoro asked.

"Sort of." Ari answered.

"What do you mean 'sort of'?" Zoro asked.

"Okay, the thing is that there are five of us competing to be your Guardian Angel. The five of us had to draw lots to decide who will help you see what life would be like if you were never born and I won." Ari explained.

"Wow." Zoro gasped.

"Oh, and I want to give you something." Ari told him.

Zoro nodded, "Okay, what is it?"

Ari stuck a finger to the side of Zoro's head. Zoro felt a surge of energy enter his brain and all the memories or his future and what Ari said about Guardian Angels was gone. All he could remember from her lesson was his present.

"Now, Zoro. Do you remember what I told you?" Ari asked him. Zoro thought for a moment and nodded.

"You aren't entirely sure, am I right?" Ari asked.

Zoro nodded, "I have to be born."

Ari looked at him, "Why?" Zoro didn't say anything. "Life would suck if you were never born." Ari answered. Zoro nodded. "I have to go now. My job here is done." Ari said, "Remember, you have made a difference already and still can, so live as long as you can." Ari told him as she floated up towards the sky.

"Good-bye, Angel 1189—I mean, Ari!" Zoro called, waving to Ari before she disappeared.

"Zoro? What are you doing over here?" A voice from behind him asked. Zoro turned and came face-to-face with Kuina.

"Nothing." Zoro told her.

Kuina shrugged, "Father asked me to bring you back to the dojo." Zoro paused, but eventually nodded and followed her back to the dojo. Standing in the dojo was Sensei and the five adults wanting to kick Zoro out.

"Sensei! Please don't kick me out of this dojo." Zoro pleaded.

Sensei looked confused, "Kick you out?"

"Yeah, I heard your conversation. You guys," he pointed at the five adults, "wanted to kick either me or Kuina out."

"WHAT?" Kuina cried out.

"And Sensei refused to kick Kuina out, so they decided that I was going to be kicked out."

Sensei shook his head, "You didn't listen to the rest of the conversation. I refuse to kick out any of my best students."

Kuina turned to the five adults, "How could you even think about kicking one of us out?"

"Yeah." Zoro agreed.

"We challenge all of you right now!" Zoro and Kuina shouted, holding up their wooden swords.

The adults laughed, but agreed. The match lasted eleven seconds with the victors being Kuina and Zoro. The victors gave each other a congratulation while Sensei gave out a laugh.

When Sensei stopped laughing, he told Zoro the real reason for having him come into the dojo just a minute ago. Sensei wanted to congratulate Zoro on all the hard work he had been doing since he joined the dojo. Also, Sensei wanted Zoro and Kuina to have a little match the next day to show the students how skill they could get with determination and training. Zoro and Kuina agreed.

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Christmas was the next day and so was the match between Zoro and Kuina. Zoro hoped that he would win against Kuina, but… "The winner…Kuina. That makes 514 for Kuina, 0 for Zoro." Sensei announced. Today, Zoro didn't pout or swear and Kuina helped Zoro up onto his feet. All the students clapped and cheered for both of them.

Later that day, Zoro stood by the little stream when he noticed a purple stone on the floor, under the water. He stuck his hand under the water and pulled out the stone: an Amethyst.

"Zoro." A voice from behind him called.

Zoro turned around and saw Kuina. She placed some weights in his arms, "Merry Christmas." With a smile, Zoro placed the Amethyst into Kuina's hands, "Merry Christmas."

Zoro never forgot Ari's visit or the lesson he was taught by her that he was allowed to remember. In those two days, he learned two lessons. He learned that even one of his biggest rivals could help him train. But the most important thing he learned was that he kicked ass and the world would suck if he was never born.

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A/N: There's the end of Chapter 2. Okay, when I was talking about Zoro's future how it could be changed, I really just made those up. I also made up the names of Zoro's parents. 1189 or Ari is also my own character. She originally came from a story I wrote for Science Fiction (which I got an A on and a note from my teacher to make another chapter of it) about a seven-year-old girl experiment given the name "1189" or "Ari". And, when I was talking about the little slave girl, you'd have to read my story, The Melody of the Seas to understand who she was and why the girl was going on the ship.

Also, I just now realized that in the last two chapters, I added something that happened in my actual life. In the first chapter, when Luffy stopped working immediately, that's what I used to do when I used to play the piano; I hated practicing and right when the 30 minute timer went off, I stopped playing even if I was in the middle of a song. In this chapter, when Zoro took a walk to get rid of some of the anger; that's what I do when I get mad at my sister. R/R if ya want, but don't flame me if you hate it.

Next chapter: Nami