When Law had told Zoro they were going to an auction, she wasn't expecting it to be a slave auction. Her grip on his arm tightened as her other hand rested on the grip of one of her swords.
"Stay calm." Law ordered as they took their seats in the back.
"What the hell kind of place is this?" Zoro asked, her grip on Law's arm was now a threat.
"I said to calm down. I'm observing. I've heard some things about today." Law replied. "Now stop drawing attention to us." Zoro glared at him but turned her attention to the front of the room.
It wasn't pretty. Zoro had to watch as person after person were auctioned off as objects. She grew angrier, and angrier. Law put a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down, as she was grinding her teeth audibly.
The straw that broke the camel's back was when Camie the mermaid was rolled onto stage. Camie, sweet Camie, who did nothing wrong. Camie, who despite being the subject of all of Sanji's attention, would still send Zoro shy smiles. Camie, who pushed her leftovers onto Zoro's plate, despite Zoro actively ignoring her.
She was captured, and here Zoro was off trying to make her best friend jealous.
The absolute fear in Camie's eyes snapped Zoro into action. She was out of her seat and climbing over the audience in an instant, despite Law's protests.
As she jumped on stage and sliced through the globe of water Camie was trapped it, it simultaneously shattered from the other side. The straw hat pirates had arrived and Sanji had just delivered a blow to the water tank as well.
Her eyes caught Sanji's, and she flashed a smile at him. The cook was looking over her shoulder, however. Law and Bepo had followed her onto the stage, eyeing the straw-hat group as well.
"These must be your crewmates, eh, Zoro-ya?" Law asked, casually resting his elbow on her shoulder, though his other hand held his sword, ready. He eyed the straw-hat pirates curiously.
"More mysterious friends of yours, Zoro?" Sanji asked, frowning.
"That's Trafalgar Law… I think his bounty is over 200 million." Robin warned, looking tense as well. "He's one of the Worst Generation, one of the Supernova…"
Law grinned at his introduction.
Zoro's head snapped to look up at Law. She had no idea what kind of guy Law was, and she hadn't imagined he would be so infamous.
"What are you doing with this kind of guy, Zoro-bro?" Franky asked, also nervous.
"She asked our Captain out on a date!" Bepo provided, gripping his hands together. All the straw-hat pirates looked at Zoro in confusion, except Sanji. Sanji's face revealed something else. There was anger… but there was hurt. Betrayal. Sadness.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
Zoro was supposed to feel better. She got him back, didn't she? She had found a handsome man to talk to just like all the women Sanji fawned over.
But instead… she felt guilt. She felt ashamed. She felt sick.
"Zoro. Explain." Luffy stated, also watching Law carefully.
Seeing their faces, it was like everything was clicking into place.
She was receiving mysterious letters. She had run off on her own. She was meeting rival pirates. She was hiding secrets from them.
They had been trusting her up until this point. But it was all spilling over. Everything was becoming a big mess.
Zoro immediately pulled away from Law and dropped down on her knees in front of her Captain and bowed, her head touching the ground, prostrating herself.
"Oh Zoro, don't! Luffy, this is my fault!" Nami hurried over and tried to pull Zoro to her feet. She wouldn't budge.
"Now's not the time, sis." Frankly told her, gently pulling Nami away.
"A rebellious first mate? If you can't handle her, should I take her off your hands, eh, straw-hat-ya?" Law asked, amused.
Sanji took a step forward but was stopped by Brook's hand on his shoulder.
"When we first met, you said that you would join me only if I didn't get in your way of becoming the world's greatest swordsman." Luffy stated. Zoro's head shot up and she stared wide-eyed at her captain, fear gripping her chest.
"Captain…"
"I thought that we could achieve our goals together. However, if you're going to go off and do your own thing, do it. I don't need a first mate with two hearts." Luffy turned on his heel and started to walk out. The crew looked uneasily at one another but followed, leaving Zoro alone.
"I'll be seeing ya around. Feel free to join us anytime, Zoro-ya." Law stated with an amused expression, gesturing to a teary-eyed Bepo as the two left as well.
For the first time since she was a child, she felt her eyes water up with tears and she slammed her fist onto the ground. Why was she so stupid? How could she be so selfish that she couldn't see what was going on around her? How could she have not realized what her actions looked like?
"Psst."
Zoro didn't know how long she had been there, alone, in the now abandoned auction house, lost deep in thought. She looked up at the noise and saw a familiar long nose peeking out from behind the stage curtain.
"Usopp?" She asked, wiping her now red eyes quickly.
"It's Sogeking." Usopp replied from behind the curtain, using the name of his alter-ego.
"Um, right. Sogeking… Why are you here?" Zoro asked.
"Because it seemed like you needed a friend." The marksman answered. Zoro felt a wave of emotion come over her and she clenched her teeth tightly, trying to prevent any more tears from falling.
"I'm fine." She replied, her voice now rough and her breath quick.
"It'll be okay. Just come back." Usopp advised from behind the curtain.
"I'm such an idiot… about everything."
"Then get smarter. The best apology isn't just about words, it's about actions. Change."
Zoro pondered at the simplicity yet wisdom in his words.
"You're right. It's time to change." Zoro confessed, strength in her voice. A disembodied arm appeared on her back and ruffled her hair, surprising her. Robin was leaning against the doorframe, smiling.
"We all have things we are bad at, swordsman-san, so let's improve ourselves together." Robin added.
"I'm sorry Zoro." Nami appeared behind Robin, looking a bit sheepish. "I was being selfish. I wanted a good show, but I didn't think things through."
Zoro shook her head.
"My actions are my own. The truth is that meeting with Law was pure coincidence while I was off collecting another letter. But I didn't even think when I joined him… Oh about Sanji…" Zoro paused, glancing around. The man wasn't to be seen. She sighed.
"I'll deal with that in my own way, from now on." Zoro continued. Nami nodded and gave a remorseful smile.
"The Captain is waiting for you." Brook noted as he entered as well, gesturing out the door.
"Let's go back together asshole!" Chopper shouted, bounding over to the swordsman and grabbing her hand. Zoro grinned down at the little deer and nodded to him then to the others.
Zoro in the lead, they headed out.
Luffy and Sanji were currently talking with an old man at a somewhat secluded bar. The others informed Zoro that the old man had been one of Roger's old crewmembers and was going to help them coat their ship so they could travel underwater.
When they arrived the bar was empty except for them and the bartender.
Determined, Zoro walked straight up to her captain and bowed once again.
"Captain! Please permit me to confess all of my sins!" Zoro announced a bit dramatically. Luffy looked a bit surprised but nodded.
"Yeah?" Sanji leaned back in his chair, looking a bit worried. Zoro then straightened up and walked over to the bar. She jumped up onto it and cupped her hands around her mouth.
"I, Roronoa Zoro, have been receiving secret messages from Dracule Mihawk. He wants me to join him on a secret location so that he can train me to become a member in his crew. He has been tracking our ship and sending me messages since we first met him. I have been thinking his offer over many times and had actually considered taking it. But I don't want to. I want to be a straw-hat pirate and complete my journey together with you, Captain!" Zoro confessed, quite loudly. The straw-hate pirates watched with varied expressions of amusement, disappointment, and admiration.
"I see, so—" Luffy started. But Zoro wasn't finished.
"Today while going to get one of those messages, I ran into tra, tre… Law-guy! I didn't even think about his background because he was handsome!" Zoro continued. Various jaws in the room dropped.
"I wanted to make Sanji jealous because Sanji is always making me angry when he plays with women!" Zoro stated. All eyes swiftly turned towards Sanji, whose cigarette bud dropped to the ground as his face turned red from the confession.
"Zoro…. I.." Sanji started, rising to talk to her.
"It pisses me off!" Zoro growled at Sanji, who took a step backward in shock. She pointed her finger at him. "But that's my feelings and you can do whatever the hell you want. I respect your decision!" She told him. Though there were flames in her eyes that said otherwise.
"Ah.. Zoro can we talk—" Sanji started again. But Zoro was already turning back to the other crew members.
"And I ate the chocolate Nami was saving!"
"How dare you!"
"I also have been hiding something from everyone!" Zoro grabbed her shirt and ripped it off, revealing her bound chest. There was silence for a few moments.
"….Your third nipple?" Usopp asked, eyeing the bindings. Zoro's face turned red and she stomped her foot onto the bar.
"No, I'm a woman!" She told him, glaring at the marksman. His jaw dropped as he looked again at her rather flat chest.
"Really?"
"Yes, damn it!" Zoro threw a chair at Usopp who dived under a table. She looked over at the other crew members. She was surprised to see that… no one was surprised.
Her eyes shot over to Sanji's and locked.
She dropped to her knees.
He had known. All this time he had known.
What did that mean?
She felt a cold wave a fear start to run through her veins. Everything was hazy.
Sanji was walking over to her. She smelled the scent of smoke and lavender. A slightly calloused hand was touching her chin.
An explosion.
It was an actual explosion. The far wall exploded, and debris went everywhere. Zoro unsheathed her swords and the others stood at the ready, looking at the far wall.
Bartholomew Kuma. He had returned. Zoro paled and gritted her teeth. She still wasn't recovered from the last time they failed to defeat this beast of a man.
A flash of yellow.
Sanji stood before her, shielding her.
No. This isn't what she wanted. She didn't want to be protected.
"You're still injured." Sanji told her, as if reading her mind. His eyes watched Kuma, waiting for an attack.
"Together." Luffy said, pulling back his fist as the others readied their attacks. Zoro looked over at her captain then back at Sanji. Feeling her eyes, Sanji glanced back at her and nodded his head. She swallowed.
"Right… Dartbrows, if you can distract him, I'll go in from behind." She offered. Sanji's face lit up with a grin.
"Aye aye, mossbrains." The cook returned, charging in for an attack.
Once again, the straw-hat group were feeling themselves overwhelmed. The group was finding themselves running for their lives as their captain told them to flee.
Zoro's vision was going blurry as she fended off another attack. She felt a presence beside her as she stumbled back.
"No, wait, Zoro!" She heard before there was a flash of light.
AN: This chapter kinda got away from me and went in a direction I wasn't expecting. But, I'm glad everythings somewhat out in the open now. Though conveniently at the time-skip era. You were so close, Sanji. Sorry bro.