Can Life Get Any Worse?

Disclaimer: One Piece is not mine at all, not even a little, not even a TINY bit!

Chapter 13: Zoro's Dream

"Now, class, slowly walk towards the airport and the teachers will help you check in!" shouted Mr. Nahlis over the large commotion the 11th grade was making. Most people were disappointed, since they would have to go back to school, leave behind new friends, and many other things. And then there were always those weird people who couldn't wait to get back to school!

Slowly, the students one by one made there way in the airport and began to wait on line, and soon after that boarded the plane.

Sanji took and seat and kindly invited each girl to sit next to him, most of them just walking by or refusing politely.

Usopp sat on the seat across from Sanji, immediately beginning his tall tales.

Kaya and Kuina grabbed two seats behind Usopp, half listening to his story and half moaning their return to school.

Vivi took the seat across from her two friends, and invited Nami to sit next to her, which she did.

Luffy grabbed a seat next to Usopp and listened intently to Usopp's story.

"And then came the giant vulture! So since I swore to protect Paul's snowman at all cost, I used my bare arms to fight it!" Luffy laughed every other second, even at the parts that weren't even the slightest bit funny.

Zoro sat behind Sanji, leaning back on the chair. A large yawn escaped from his mouth as he slowly closed his eyes. Waking up at eight o'clock in the morning was not a fun thing to do for him.

Not long after he had closed his eyes had he drifted off into a deep sleep and a dream as well.

Flashback

(10 years ago)

A young boy with moss-green hair stepped into a large building. He had an excited look on his face as he walked down a few hallways and pushed open a door. Inside were many boys crowded around a single table, cheering and screaming coming from them.

"No!" A boy shouted right after there was a loud thud on the table. The young boy grew impatient and stomped up towards the crowd of boys.

"My name is Roronoa Zoro! And I challenge the best arm wrestler you got!" His mouth curved to create a large grin.

"You want the best?" He heard a girl voice coming from the crowd, and as the boys cleared, he saw a girl with short navy hair sitting at the table.

"Yeah, the best!" Zoro repeated.

"Then sit down and show me what you got!" Kuina challenged with a smirk.

"I said I want the best! You can't be the best, you're a girl!" He argued, taking his seat at the table anyway.

He heard whispers coming from the crowd, not really catching what they were saying and not really caring.

"I'll show that girls can be the strongest," said the girl as she set her elbow on the table and open hand in the air.

He grabbed her hand and put his elbow on the table as well. "You're on!"

Another young boy stepped beside the table and held Zoro's and Kuina's hand steady. "Ready… Set… GO!" The boy shouted as he quickly let go and stepped back.

The battle between the two began, each pushing the others' hand towards the table, but the hands seemed to stay still in the air. Both of their strengths were matched, which was a surprise to most of the boys. After a few minutes, Kuina did the final move and pushed Zoro's hand down, releasing gasps from many people.

Kuina grinned. "There you have it, first hand!"

Zoro frowned and got up, slamming his hands against the table. "No way am I going to loosing to a girl! I'm not gonna loose to you ever again! Just wait, I'm going to train and train and train and finally beat you!" With that, he pushed past the crowd and walked out the door.

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Zoro growled and Kuina grinned. Gasps were heard form around the two.

"But Zoro is the strongest out of all of us!"

"Yeah, he can even beat some of the high schoolers!"

"He can't keep loosing like that!"

Kuina ignored all of their comments and looked at Zoro, still grinning. "Well, that's what? The 2000th time I beat you?" She chuckled which made Zoro more furious.

"You just wait!" He yelled back, getting up off of the chair. "I'll keep training!" The now 10 year old Zoro stormed off towards the door, only to resume his training.

He walked down the halls; it was not after school so the halls were empty.

Zoro growled in frustration. "Why can't I beat her!" He stopped short in his tracts as he heard some voices.

"Kuina has become the best in the arm wrestling tournament. You do realize that, right?"

"Yes, but it will not last long. Kuina's a girl, so eventually, the boys will surpass her."

"Mhmm. Okay then, goodbye."

"Bye."

Once he heard the footsteps fade, he continued to walk. "Because she's a girl? No way!"

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Zoro ran across the sidewalks, not being able to see clearly because of the dimmed light. He slowed down once he heard a few footsteps. He grinned when he saw the silhouette of a female.

"Kuina!" He yelled as he stepped right near here. "I challenge you to one final match!"

She looked at him and grinned. "You ready for another loss?"

"This time I won't lose!" He responded angrily. He looked around; making sure no one saw them. "Let's go!"

Nodding, she quickly followed him as he ran. They turned corners and eventually slowed down, entering a small alley. There was a table and two chairs.

"Let's go!"

Both of them took their sets and got ready, gripping each others hands. Without even saying go, the two began. This time, it lasted longer, much longer than any time before. Sweat dripped down their necks as they tried harder and harder to win, only to fail. But finally, one hand over powered the other and sent it flying down towards the table with a loud 'thud'.

There was silence for a moment, and then Zoro frowned, feeling a few tears fall from his eyes. "This… is so… frustrating! I can never beat you!"

Kuina looked up at him and frowned slightly. "Don't worry, Zoro. Soon, you'll beat me because I'm a girl. I can't be stronger than boys. You'll surpass me over time…" She stated as she felt tears come from her eyes as well.

"Huh? That's what your father said, wasn't it?"

"Y-yes, and he's right. I overheard him today, and he was right. Boys are naturally strong than gir-"

"No! I'm going to beat you one day because I worked hard! Not because you got weaker!" Zoro stood up and looked at her teary eyes. "Promise me!"

"Promise… what?"

"Promise me that one day, one of us will win the arm wrestling tournament! And we'll fight each other for the title of champion!" He held his hand up in the hair.

She managed a smiled and met her hand with his. "Yes, I promise. But you can't win… you're too puny…"

Flashback End

Zoro's eyes slowly opened as he slowly woke up to the sound of teenagers screaming and adults talking in the background. His eyes wandered around the plane to see Vivi standing up and walked toward a seat. Finding nothing else interesting, Zoro fell back asleep.

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Vivi turned towards Nami. "I'll be right back!" She called as she made her way to the bathroom. On the way, she passed a rather sad looking Sanji. She stopped and looked at him. "Something wrong?" She asked as she took the seat next to him.

He looked towards and her and immediately smiled. "Oh, nothing wrong!" He smiled widely, but she could still tell he was depressed.

At first she wondered why, but then remembered the night of the dance. Maybe seeing Nami and Luffy kiss, even if it was accidental, was hard for Sanji. But she never thought that it would be that bad. Just as she was about to respond, she noted what looked like a pack of cigarettes in Sanji's pocket.

"Sanji, what's that doing there?" She asked him with a concerned voice as she pointed to his pocket.

He looked down at it and back up at her. "Yeah, I smoke," he said in a rather quiet voice. He didn't the teachers to hear, for he didn't want to get in trouble or anything like that.

"But haven't you heard what smoking does to you?"

Sanji didn't respond. Instead, he leaned back into his chair and turned towards Vivi. "You can go back to your friends; I'm going to sleep some."

She nodded and got up, heading towards her seat.

"And thanks for worrying about me," he told her as she felt, not entirely sure she heard.

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Vivi took her seat next to Nami and frowned slightly. I wonder if Sanji is alright. He barely talked to any of us girls today, and that's not like him…

"Vivi?" Nami asked, looking with concern towards her friend.

"Oh, what? Sorry, I'm just a little out of it right now," she replied with a smile.

Nami smiled. "I just hope you're ready when we have to go back to school on Monday," she reminded her friend, both of them sighing.

"I'm gonna miss the vacation," Vivi said, Nami nodding in agreement.

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Zoro took in a large breath as he slept.

Flashback

"Grr…" An 11 year old boy lay on the ground, a puddle of blood forming around him.

"Forget it Zoro!" yelled a blonde haired boy as he grinned. He looked down at the green haired boy who currently had a bleeding nose. "You're out numbered!"

Zoro slowly pushed himself up. "I'm not… done yet, Morgan!" He got to his feet and stared at the blonde boy supposedly named Morgan.

"But you're outnumbered! There's no way you can win!" Morgan laughed, just as all of his friends around him did.

"I can still fi-"

"Hey! That's not nice picking on someone like that!" Zoro and Morgan looked towards where the voice was coming from. There stood an 11 year old boy with ruffled black and hair, wearing a straw hat.

"Who are you?" asked Morgan, clearly annoyed that someone else was ruining his fun.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" He yelled with a large grin.

Zoro grunted slightly. "Well what are you here for?"

"To help you!" He answered as if it was obvious.

"I don't help from someone like you! Just stay out of it!" He yelled at Luffy, turning back towards Morgan. Before he could say anything else, he felt a hard kick in the face by Morgan as he fell backwards, more blood dripping from his nose and mouth.

"Whoa!" Luffy ran over to the bleeding Zoro, and then looked up at Morgan. "I'm gonna get you!"

"Hahaha! You? Get me?" Morgan continued laughing. "I can take you out with one punch!" As he continued to laugh, Luffy took action.

He ran forward and pulled his arm back, pushing it forward and hitting Morgan right in his chin, sending him falling down to the ground.

Silence filled the air as Morgan's body landed on the ground with a loud 'thud'. His friends stared at the bloody body. Zoro managed to get up and watch as Morgan was defeated.

His friend burst into cheers, seemingly happy that he was defeated. Luffy and Zoro stared at them surprised.

"You defeated Morgan!"

"Finally! He's done for!"

"He was a boss and a bully!"

"Thanks!"

"We've always hated Morgan, but we've been too scared of him to oppose him," explained one of his friends with a large smile on his face.

"Oh," said Luffy, and then he looked at Zoro.

"So, what's your name?" He asked.

"Why would you want to know?" Zoro asked grumpily.

Luffy frowned, insisting that he wanted to know.

"Fine, it's Roronoa Zoro."

"Hey, I heard that name before!" Luffy grinned as Zoro began to walk away, "Hey, wait!" He called after the green head.

Zoro turned around. "What?"

"Will you be my friend?"

He blinked at Luffy's question. "Fine, but only because you helped me back there," he replied as he began to walk away again.

Luffy grinned.

Flashback End

Zoro once again opened his eyes, being woken up by the loudspeaker of the plane.

"We will be landing shortly, so please put your tray tables up, ups in the upright positions and prepare for landing. Thank you for flying with us."

He looked towards his side, seeing Luffy. "Hey, Luffy!" He shook the straw hat boy vigorously until he finally woke up.

"Huh? Are we home?" Luffy looked to his side and smiled. "Oh, hiya Zoro!" He smiled gleefully.

"Hey. We should be home soon," Zoro replied to his friend, receiving an "Oh" in response.

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Nami glanced at her watch. "5:30 pm, not bad. Only took 5 hours." She looked at Vivi, who was staring out the window.

"That's good. So, do you want to come to my place for dinner? Since Bellemere and Nojiko are supposed to be out and all," she offered.

Nami considered. "Okay! Thanks," she said with a smile.

"No problem."

"Hmm, you know what would be great?" Without waiting for an answer, Nami went on. "To have a sleepover! All four of us!"

Vivi thought about the idea and nodded. "That's a great idea!"

Nami turned towards Kaya and Kuina. "Hey, me and Vivi-"

"Vivi and I," Kaya corrected.

Nami sighed. "Ok, Vivi and I came up with the best idea! Tonight, we all go to Vivi's house for a sleepover! It's the perfect timing!" She grinned, waiting for what her friends thought.

Kaya and Kuina exchanged glances, looked back at Nami and grinned widely.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Kaya exclaimed.

"Yeah, exactly what we need on the last Saturday night of the vacation!" Kuina said with an even wider grin.

"Great, then it's set. Tonight, at Vivi's, a sleepover!" Nami smiled widely. Perfect!

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A/N: Wow, I finished this one fast. I came back from vacation like 4 or 5 days ago, so I'm proud of updating so fast (for me at least)! I hope you enjoy this, and you must wait for the 14th chapter! I need an idea… hmm… Readers? Any ideas? Tell them in your reviews!