It is another afternoon in the vast and seemingly endless sea that is the Grand Line; another afternoon the Going Merry sails it's treacherous waters. A few hours has passed since the Strawhats escaped from the marine blockade as they left Alabasta with a bitter-sweet farewell.

Luffy sits in his special sit as he enjoys the relative peace and quiet; which is more than welcome after the exhausting adventure the strawhats have went through.

From escaping a town of bounty hunters, going to a pre-historic island that has living breathing dinosaurs and giants to be further pursued by them, Nami being in the brink of death and of course being constantly wary and on guard against Crocodile and his twisted plans though it all. Add batshit crazy weather to the list.

A Novel could be written about his adventures already and it has only been few weeks since he left home, he could only imagine how fantastical it would be by the end of his voyage around the world.

Luffy frowns as that thought surfaces in his mind and along with it invertedly surfaces long buried feelings.

Before he could ponder further, he takes a glance behind as footsteps interrupts his thoughts.

"Luffy"

It was Zoro. Luffy knew it was time for another one of these serious 'talks' as captain and first mate & not friends. Zoro always has a look and a voice reserved for it whenever he approached him for the very infrequent times when he is demanded to act "professional" as a pirate captain.

Luffy had a good idea what it was about given the unceremonious way the newest member on board joined the crew; Luffy was anticipating for the eventual confrontation. Even if he did prefer to avoid these talks most of the time due to him feeling that their importance is overblown by Zoro, He knows he can not simply brush it off this time.

Luffy plopped down from the head of the Merry, "What's up Zoro?" He asked as he stepped towards him.

Zoro crossed his arms, "You know what I am going to ask you right?" his tone making it clear there is no escape until he is thoroughly interrogated.

Luffy scratched his head sheepishly, "Yeah…" He cursed himself in the back of his mind for not initiatiatng the conversation himself earlier, the unforgiving look Zoro gave him pierced through as a reminder that he should have.

"So, let me just get to the point, why did you let that woman join the crew?" Zoro asked, not hiding his disapproval.

Luffy internally winced, although he knew this wouldn't be pretty. It was worse than he thought given how close Zoro was to snapping with just the first line "Are you against it?" He asked inquisitively.

Zoro narrowed his eyes, "That doesn't answer my question Luffy" The edge loud and clear in his words.

Luffy didn't reply, he needed take control so it isn't a one sided beatdown. He went to the railing as he faced the sea "I will answer yours but answer mine first"

Zoro glared at him "I have to trust your judgement, but I don't trust her, I can't keep telling myself to trust your judgement if I am not given an explanation right now" he said sternly.

Luffy turned to face him again and glared back, "That doesn't answer my question Zoro"

"Fine! Yes, I am against it! Now tell me Why did you think letting the 2nd highest officer of the organization that almost killed us all and actively participated in destroyed our friend's country gets a ride on this ship as one of us!?" Zoro said stridently, his face filled with irritation that Luffy is not taking the hint.

Luffy face was neutral yet his glare was stubborn as he waited for Zoro to say anything else before he speaks. He wasn't going to give in and let him control the conversation.

Zoro matched his glare with his own. Their glares spoke more than anything they could have said out loud; The glare off served as a contest of daring the other back down.

Zoro eventually lost as he broke the glare and sighed, "You know I don't discuss serious business a lot with you captain. You are a carefree moron, and we are all ok with that and don't think anything less of you for it, but this can cause rifts and endanger our crew from the inside, you need to come clean with me" he said much less demandly though he still made it clear that he is not backing down.

Satisfied that Zoro isn't just going to constantly pummel him verbally; Luffy opened his mouth but closed it right away, he thought he knew what he wanted to say. "I- I don't know"

Zoro raised an eyebrow, "You don't know?" He didn't doubt Luffy, he can't lie or divert to save his life. He is as simple-minded as they come, he is rarely confused on how he is feeling or what his thoughts are on anything.

It was additionally uncharacteristic since the woman did say something about being obligated to let her join because of what happened between them and he let her join because of that obligation. Zoro really asked the question as a rhetoric starting point in order to get the context and wasn't expecting an answer to a question that was already vaguely answered. He did not expect there to be more to Luffy's decision and the fact he can't verbalize the 'more' despite his simple minded nature was intriguing... to say the least.

"Yeah…. but I know I can trust her" Luffy said slowly but firmly.

"Ok. Let's change the question, why do you trust her?" Zoro figured he would have better luck through this route in trying to dissect Luffy's reasoning, though he suspects that he will be able to. He is only looking for a glimpse to confirm that Luffy has some level of self awareness about his decision and it's consequences.

Luffy said nothing for a while as he attempted to collect his thoughts "You remember when we first met her?"

"Yeah, back in whiskey peak, what about it?" Zoro replied, through a part in the back of his mind dreaded the possibility Luffy had judged that women's ability to integrate into the crew from this meeting alone. She certainly didn't make the best of impressions with her sadistic mockery of Vivi. A part of him also suggested something else but he pushed it away as soon as it came due to how incredulous his mind registered it to be.

Luffy had a contemplative expression "You know, normally if a bad guy messes with my hat, I will beat the crap out of them until they are black and blue but for some reason I didn't do that when she took my hat"

Zoro said nothing, but the look he gave told him to keep going.

"Something felt off about her, I don't know how to say it, but I had to kind of remind myself she was an enemy? I never had to do that with any other bad guys" Luffy said, sounding perplexed.

"So you are trusting her based on a gut feeling? Intuition?" Zoro asked neutrally, though the fears in his mind only intensified.

Luffy does have uncanny intuition when it comes to judging anyone with whatever information or experience he has of them. It's one of the reasons he didn't question his decisions too often after what happened in Arlong park, where he misread the whole situation despite sailing with Nami and knowing her as well has Luffy has. However, he can't help his discomfort regarding this decision when it involves a former enemy who is still a mystery.

"Sort of? I realized she wasn't a bad guy after she saved my life twice" Luffy said casually as if what he said didn't hold any more weight than talking about what he had for dinner last night.

"Oh I— What the hell do you mean she saved your life twice?!?" Zoro exclaimed in shock.

Luffy looked confused, but he then realized he didn't tell his crew about his fight in Alabasta "Oh right, I didn't tell you guys, Croc almost killed me when he buried me in quick sand after almost impaling through my heart, but she saved me and told the bird guy to patch me up"

Before Zoro could say something, Luffy continued "Croc poisoned me in the last fight, I was going to die if she didn't give me the antidote."

"I was pretty dazed afterwards, but I heard her crying when she was talking to king ossan, I think she said something about—"

"Alright. That's enough." Zoro said cutting him off, he got what he wanted and even though he was wary of this woman; he wanted to avoid hearing something that she probably isn't comfortable sharing herself given it sounds like it's personal, and the moron doesn't know what and what isn't appropriate to blurt out.

"I still don't trust her and I still don't accept this but I can go along for now. I am just making sure her joining isn't just one of your strange whims, and you knew what you were getting into" Zoro said ending the chat. What's done is done, Zoro didn't entertain the possibility he could convince Luffy to retract his acceptance.

He was more at ease now sensing that there is more to it than just a hunch from Luffy if his uncharacteristic confusion and firm trust in her is anything to go by. If the woman saved their captain from death's door not once but twice when she had no reason to, at the least he owes her his gratitude, which can serve to at least hold his feelings of disapproval of her place in the ship to be held off. For now.

Zoro internally frowned though as the mystery around the woman only deepened with this revelation, what is her motive?

Luffy's eyebrow twitched "I am not that clueless, I am not a kid you know" he said pouting

Zoro grinned "Really? I recall when you met the witch for the first time. She tied you up and handed you to a clown, and you didn't resist, kid"

"Better than you, Mr lost in a straight line!" He hit back childishly, sticking his tongue out.

Now Zoro's brow twitched, "I will let that one slide" he said in annoyance as he walked back to start his daily weight lifting regiment.

"Shishishishi see ya Zoro" Luffy said sat back on his special seat.

An ear close by disappeared as the conversation ceased.

Unbeknownst to both, Robin has been following the entire conversation.