Chopper didn't pay attention to the two's conversation, instead, he turned to Zoro. His face was red, and he looked down at the white sword before he put it back in place, where it should always be.
"What the hell was that all about?" Sanji asked. "Who is Kuina? That isn't your sword's name."
"It is interesting. I wonder what was so significant to make Zoro blush," Robin said in a teasing voice. Zoro snarled at her to shut her mouth and then walked off, down the road and turned a corner. He went the opposite way Luffy and her brother had gone.
Once Zoro was far enough, he sat against a tree, remembering his and Kuina's vow. He wondered how Luffy knew about that. And that his sword had feelings… it was strange to say the least. She'd only had it for a few hours, and she knew it like that? Knew who had owned it before him?
He could totally see Kuina being disappointed. She'd be laughing at him most likely. Beaten by another little girl. Females were his downfall. Then he thought about how much fun he'd had with that fight last night. Of course, being impaled by four blades at once hadn't been fun, but it was nice Luffy didn't leave him to die. She must be a kind person to bring back a prize just because it didn't want to be owned by her. He wondered how many weapons she had stolen. And how old she was.
And she knew that Sandai Kitetsu was cursed without spending time with it personally. He couldn't wait to fight her again, whenever that may be. His face heated up at the thought. The feeling he had when he fought with Luffy last night reminded him of when he fought with his last greatest rival, except Luffy was much more wild and unpredictable than Kuina had been. She would have loved to meet Luffy, though that brought up the question if Luffy was considered a swordswoman if she just changed her limbs into weapons.
No, Zoro would say she's a swordswoman. But she was merciless until the very end. He remembered right before she knocked him out, while she stood above him, she looked anything but tiny and fragile. She had been wearing the triumphant grin he'd worn so many times. It looked good on her.
Luffy was very pretty… And she could be easy to carry around since she's so small. He wanted to know more about her. What else she could do. Her likes and dislikes. Gah! Why was he thinking these things? He's never been fond of women before! Why now? Luffy wasn't even human, which made these thoughts more strange to him. And he wasn't supposed to care about looks.
Zoro sighed and looked at the sky, deciding to train for their next battle. He'd practice doing his sword moves quicker, since Luffy was able to stop him by being faster than Zoro was.
"I can't wait to battle him again!" Luffy said as she and Ace ate pancakes in the large dining room. "Hey, Makino, c'mere!" Luffy called as he sister walked past a little ways away.
"What is it?" she asked, wondering what Luffy had done this time based on her smug smile.
"I beat Roronoa Zoro and stole his sword. I told you I would!" she told Makino, who looked slightly surprised. Then Luffy's face fell a bit. "I had to give it back, though."
Makino was surprised again. "Why did you give it back?"
"That's all you ask!? I told you I defeated some pirate with a high bounty and you don't say anything nice?!" Luffy asked, offended. Makino sighed.
"It's impressive that you beat him, but I never told you I didn't believe you could. I don't understand why you would give it back, though. You were dead set on getting them. Why did you return it?" Makino asked, sitting down next to Luffy and taking a bite out of her pancake. Luffy looked scandalized and moved her plate away from her sister.
"The sword felt alive, and it didn't want to be with me. And when I told Zoro that, he looked at me really strangely. It surprised me," Luffy explained.
"Well, most people can't speak to inanimate objects, Luffy," Ace interjected, sitting across from both sisters and eating his own pancakes. "It seemed like what you said had some significance to him."
"Maybe. I don't really care about that. I just wanna fight him again. And he wants to fight me, too. Ooh I can't wait!" Luffy exclaimed, shimmying in her seat in excitement. "I'm gonna go get some sleep during the day so I can go out tonight without being sleepy. Plus, I'm tired, too." Luffy got rid of the mess on her plate and put it back in the cupboard of silverware and plates and bowls.
"See you later!" she called as she bustled to her room. She changed into comfy clothes, planning on sleeping for a long while, and dove under her blankets, falling asleep easily.
"Zoro! Where the hell did you go?" Usopp called as he looked for the man. It was lunch time, and Sanji was going to make food. Zoro hadn't had breakfast that morning.
Zoro was sleeping against the tree he'd stopped at a couple hours ago, his swords stuck between his back and the tree. He wouldn't be surprised if some other nymph decided they wanted his shiny swords. What are they, goblins? More like little-pain-in-the-asses.
Usopp came across him and bonked him on the head. Zoro grabbed Usopp's fist before he punched down on his head again. "What do you want?" he growled. He still didn't want to be around the crew. They probably wouldn't leave him alone about Luffy and his sword.
But he was hungry, and if he was going to fight Luffy again, he should get some food. He'd had enough sleep. He'd practiced a little bit while he was out there alone, but was finding it hard to go faster than he usually did, since he always tried to go as fast as he could during battles.
"It's lunch time if you wanna come eat," Usopp said, yanking his hand out of Zoro's grip. Zoro rubbed his face and looked down to his swords, making sure they were all there in their scabbards.
"Fine. Let's go," Zoro grumbled, walking the wrong way. Usopp sighed.
"It's this way, Zoro," he said, exasperated. Zoro grunted and turned around to follow Usopp. The two didn't talk on their way back to the ship, though Usopp was watching him for most of the trip through the corner of his eye. Zoro seemed preoccupied by his thoughts, whatever they were.
"Luffy is pretty cute, huh?" Usopp asked, going out on a limb.
"Why'd you bring that up?" Zoro asked, not expecting Usopp to say that. "She's too young for you. She looks like a child."
"She obviously doesn't fight like one," Usopp replied, fishing for information on what happened last night. He was super curious, though he was irritated with the damage the two did to the ship during their impromptu battle. Going out to see Zoro splashed with blood, his swords all spread out next to him, unsheathed, was a sight he didn't expect to see.
"No, she fights like a fucking demon out of hell," Zoro scoffed, with a soft smirk. "Can't wait to fight her again, though. Teach her who's better." Zoro was determined to get her back for humiliating him and then exposing personal information to the crew, intentional or not.
"Hmm…" was Usopp's response just as the ship came into view.
Zoro's stomach growled at the sight of the ship. He was starving. Just that fight should have had him eating like a pig for breakfast, but then he skipped that, too. Sanji better be prepared with a large amount of food. He knew everyone was going to either mock him or pester him for information, but he was hungry. He'd deal with it, but no one would know who Kuina was. That was too personal.
Sanji had made sandwiches, three for each person with their favorite combos. As everyone sat down, and Zoro started to eat, he noticed no one else was eating. He sighed in irritation.
"I'm not telling any of you," he said, going back to inhaling his sandwiches. Then Sanji pissed him off, unintentionally for once.
"Who is Kuina?" Sanji questioned. Everyone felt the temperature in the room change. Zoro looked like a demon as he glared at Sanji.
"You don't say that name! Ever!" Zoro raged at him. Even Sanji was startled by the abrupt and violent change in Zoro's voice and presence. Sanji stared at him, knowing that whoever Kuina was, it was extremely personal. Even Sanji wasn't going to violate that for Zoro.
"Che," was Sanji's reply. Everyone stared at Zoro as he stuffed his final sandwich in his mouth and then stomped out of the galley. They could hear him loudly going into the storage room to get liquor.
"Damn," Usopp said.
"I'm betting Kuina is dead," Nami said, sipping her drink. She sounded a bit sad. "He obviously didn't want any of us to know who she was. Let's not bring her up again."
"Wait… he always touches that sword. Haven't you guys noticed that? Maybe that sword means so much to him because it has ties to someone who is dead," Usopp hypothesized.
"That does make sense. I wonder how Luffy knew about Kuina. Is she a sword-whisperer or something?" Nami asked. "And she's very kind to have given Wado back because she knew it had sentimental value."
"I wouldn't call beating and stealing something from someone 'kind'," Sanji commented. "But at least she seemed to heal him based on the fact he had no wounds. How did none of us hear them fighting? They must have been loud for the damage they did to the ship. And just because she can't talk, grunt or scream, doesn't mean Zoro can't…"
"You do have some good points. We can watch them fight tonight I guess," Robin said, going to her second sandwich. "I'd like to see how she fought him. What abilities she had or what weapons she used."
"Someone that tiny can't hold a big sword-" Usopp began, but Robin cut him off.
"We don't know that. We know practically nothing about nymphs. They could be ridiculously strong. It's a mystery I want to uncover."
No one bothered Zoro as he worked out on the deck. They wanted to see him fight Luffy. Sanji and Usopp wanted to see Zoro get beaten, Robin wanted to see how Luffy fought, Nami wanted to place bets, and Chopper just wanted to say hi and talk with her.
But, after dinner, which Zoro had inhaled as well, when they were going out of the galley to watch him and Luffy fight, Zoro was gone. He wasn't anywhere on the ship or near the dock.
"Ah shit," Sanji said, disappointed. "There was no way Mosshead would want to be watched during an important fight."
Robin frowned, disappointed as well. Well, they'd see who won eventually.
After Luffy had gorged herself on food, she left to go to the harbor. She saw Zoro working out on the deck, lifting ridiculously heavy weights. For a human that is. Luffy didn't feel like having an audience as she fought Zoro. It would be distracting, and she didn't want too many humans knowing what the nymphs could do.
Luffy couldn't scream to get his name, so she created a bow and arrow and shot an arrow holding a bunch of leaves as the mast near his head. She saw it startle the human, and she started waving her hands around at the peak the nymphs had been playing on the day before.
Noticing that Zoro saw her, she pointed to the ground where the dock ended, and disappeared into the brush, the bow and arrow forgotten.
Zoro gave a challenging smile as he saw Luffy pointing in the direction of the start of the long dock. Zoro jumped off the ship and sprinted to the port area. Luffy was there and made motions for him to follow her.
He didn't want an audience either. He smiled at the thought of how disappointed the rest of the crew would be to miss a fight that Zoro might lose. But he wouldn't lose this time. He didn't know her tricks, but he knew some of what she could do. And he knew to not underestimate her, like he'd done last night.
Luffy led him to a field a while away from the main market areas and busiest parts. It was super dark through the bushes they ran through, and the only thing he could see to follow her was the whites of her dress sleeves.
Neither were tired when they got to their battle stage. Luffy bounded away from him and further into the field to take off her shoes and tie her hair up with a band she created.
As Zoro took his swords out and tied his black bandana around his head, she stretched her legs and arms. "Don't go easy," the swordsman said in a gruff voice. Luffy smiled in response.
Zoro said nothing as he watched Luffy stand up straight and pull her hands up. Only this time, her limbs didn't turn into swords. Her fingers turned into jagged claws, reflecting moonlight. They were shards of metal in the shape of fingers. Her toes were also now jagged shards of metal.
"Bring it," Zoro growled through Wado Ichimonji.
Again, Luffy was merciless, but so was Zoro. He slashed at her violently, but he missed almost every time. And the times he came close, all it took was for Luffy to gently bump the sword away with one of her clawed fingers. Zoro had claw marks on his arms and chest, but he made no show of pain.
Once he gave her a deep slash on her arm, she immediately ran a hand over the wound and it disappeared.
"Cheating, are we?" he asked, somewhat teasingly. She scowled and ran her metal hand back over the wound, bringing it back. He smirked and went after her again, nicking her other arm.
Luffy didn't like getting cut and not healing, so she coated most of her arms in metal. Now it was like she was wearing long, gray gloves with razor fingertips. She wasn't against dirty tactics, throwing dirt in his eyes as she got around his back. She leapt to grab onto his back, but he turned around, not deterred by the dirt in his eyes. He could sense where she was going next.
Zoro laughed at her pout once he had the time to wipe his eyes with the back of one of his hands. When she charged at him, wrapping both arms around a single sword, he began to laugh at the fun of their battle. He stopped laughing when she was able to twist one of his swords out of his hands and threw it behind him.
She danced away from him, smirking at his angered expression. Now he was really serious. She took one of his swords away, so he moved Wado to his sword-less hand. Luffy could feel the animosity rolling off of him, and she snickered at it. He lunged forwards, slicing his swords above one another, trying to slice her in half, knowing she'd be fine even if he did mortally wound her. But she leapt so high she was above him. She planted the balls of her dirty feet on his face.
When Zoro grunted, she was already on her way down, straightening her legs and coating the bottoms of her feet in steel. She landed both feet on Wado and his cursed blade, pushing them down harshly until they were stuck in the hard ground.
Luffy barely touched the ground before she brought her legs back up to kick his abdomen, knocking him down onto the ground. She finally landed on him with her clawed fingers pressing against his throat.
The fight was longer than their last, but felt shorter because of how much they enjoyed it.
"You win," Zoro grumbled from underneath the little nymph. She stepped off of him and turned her body back to normal. Luffy healed her wounds by running her hands along them lengthwise. She walked to her shoes and slipped them back on, taking her hair out of the messy ponytail.
Zoro was still breathing heavily when she came back to him, holding the sword she'd disarmed first. It was dirty from being lodged in the dirt. She wiped the blade against her dirty dress and set it next to the human. Zoro flinched away from her slightly when she sat right next to him. Luffy raised an eyebrow at him, but ran her hands over his body anyways, healing all of his small or large injuries.
Luffy could see his small blush when she healed the wounds on his cheeks and smiled in amusement.
She sat next to him and massaged her hands, which were stiff from being in the clawed metal form. She looked at the large moon. It was full tonight. Zoro was still laying on the ground, looking up at Luffy, who was looking at the sky, her face completely calm, though she was still sweaty from all the exertion.
"Y'know, I never beat Kuina," Zoro said conversationally. Luffy looked at him in interest, waiting for him to continue. "She beat me 2,001 times. I could barely use a single sword when I first challenged her. She wanted to become the world's greatest swordmaster, but she couldn't because she was a girl. So our vow was that one of us would achieve the title of the greatest swordmaster in the world.
"Then she fell down the stairs and broke her neck that night. This was her sword," Zoro said as he lifted Wado Ichimonji. "And now it's mine and I carry it for her. Thanks for giving it back. But how did you know about Kuina?" he asked, not expecting her to be able to answer.
Luffy spread her hands along the grass, creating a writing canvas. She created a pen and wrote her reply. I could just feel it. Zoro's eyes widened in amazement, but didn't change the subject to ask about that ability.
"How?"
I can't explain it.
Zoro made a slightly disappointed look and sheathed the blade smoothly, finally sitting up.
I've been waiting for a good opponent for years. Thanks, Luffy wrote. Every time she finished a sentence and knew Zoro had read it, she wiped the words off with her other hand.
"You're a pretty worthy opponent yourself." Luffy smiled at him.
I'll be right back, the nymph wrote before silently running off and into the forest. Zoro watched where she had disappeared for a long moment. He really liked Luffy, even if she was a cocky little thief. This battle would have been much, much less enjoyable if it had taken place in front of an audience.
He couldn't help but compare Luffy and Kuina. And he had never thought he'd find someone as strong to him than she had been. He became a bit misty eyed as he thought of Kuina, which he never did anymore. Nothing brought up the memories and he was always preoccupied with something or someone else to just relax and think about her.
It was too bad Kuina couldn't meet Luffy. They would have enjoyed fighting each other. The small girl came back carrying a straw basket with apples in it and two canteens full of fresh water. Zoro sat up as she ran to him, her bundle of goods almost too big for her to carry. She set the basket in front of him and plopped down next to him, taking a big gulp from her canteen. Zoro took the other from her and drank the water as well.
Luffy took an apple and munched on it, looking at the stars. There wasn't a cloud in the sky that night. The sweat was dried on her from the cool breeze coming through the clearing. She looked to Zoro, who was staring at her. She made an expression as if saying, "What's with that look?"
"How old are you, Luffy?" Zoro asked. She turned her apple around and carved her finger in it until it showed "17". After she showed him, she bit off that part of the apple. She gave him a look, asking how old he was.
"I'm 19. Do you not like not being able to make noise?" She shook her head. It's not like she had any reason to. She could talk fine to who she wanted to talk to. "Hmm…" was his reply. He fought back a yawn. He hadn't napped much today. He was tired, and the constantly getting cut and stabbed part of the battle had taken its toll. Plus, whatever Luffy did to heal him seemed to exhaust him.
Do you want me to take you back? Luffy wrote. Zoro yawned again and nodded, slightly embarrassed. Luffy set all of the objects she had on the grass in one pile, leaving it for her to come get back later. She stood up and brushed the dirt off of her dress, bounding away once Zoro stood as well.
It was hard for Zoro to keep up this time, since he was more tired, and Luffy was running quicker than last time for some reason. When she ran, it was like she bounced around silently. Her footsteps made no sound, though Zoro's boots were crunching leaves and twigs in their path. It wasn't long before they were heading downhill, and Zoro could smell the sea.
Luffy finally slowed when they came to a dirt clearing with a single building. They were at the harbor. She stopped at the edge of the dock and smiled at Zoro. Zoro smiled back and walked down the deck to the ship, only looking back to see Luffy disappear into the plants that reached above her head, swallowing her.