"You're up early," Zoro yawned as he sat down at the table.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep," I admitted while fidgeting with my spoon.

That morning, I woke up with the sun, took a walk, made breakfast, tried to eat, took another walk, and tried to eat again.

"Nervous?" he asked, taking the spoon out of my hand and putting it down on the table.

"Uh huh. I couldn't eat either," I sighed.

"Well do you think you're going to win?" he asked, digging into the porridge I made.

"I think I could win, but I also think I could lose." I didn't really have a good measure of my opponents skill or even mine for that matter.

"That's all you need," he stated. "As long as you believe you could win, all you have to do is fight."

"That's easy enough for you to say," I grumbled over a mouthful of food. It stuck like a lump in my throat on the way down to my nervous stomach. "You have the strength to back up your confidence and run headfirst into a match. I've never done this before, you know." I sat there stirring around my food, feeling kind of sick.

"If you're just going to play with your food then let's go for a walk."

The sun was relentlessly blazing down on us as we walked through the open fields to get to the forest. Without the relief of clouds, the earth steadily heated up and it would be scorching by midday. Drops of sweat ran down our faces from the heat alone.

"If you lose this match, will you give up?" Zoro asked once we reached the shade of the trees.

"Of course not. The outcome of a match doesn't change the fact that I want to get stronger." I realized that I was starting to sound like Zoro.

"Good. You'll be fine then."

"But it would be really disappointing. Not to mention embarrassing."

I could just imagine that I would have to hide my face anytime Cassandra or her little squad walked through town after the way I had so eagerly challenged her yesterday. And the pitiful looks I'd get from everyone who always doubted me when I told them that I don't train in the dojo. I tell them that their style doesn't suit me and they turn and whisper about how I'm too petit to go up against real opponents. I know because I can hear them even though they think they're out of my range.

"You know, I lost my first match," Zoro admitted with a laugh. His voice pulled me out of imagining my potentially dark future. "I didn't have a minute of training but I challenged the dojo anyways. Got my ass handed to me obviously but I was fine."

"Um how old were you when this happened?"

"3."

"Wow," I breathed, imagining a toddler taking on a dojo. But it actually wasn't surprising considering who it was. Zoro lived and breathed the way of the sword and I had always just seen him as taking out opponents one after another from the day he was born.

"It made me angry and I went back every day to fight. It eventually turned into training as they would give me pointers," he reminisced. "And I've lost many times since then..."

"2000, at least," I recalled the tale about his friend Kuina.

"Thanks for the estimate," he said through gritted teeth. "But the point is, I never broke. And I expect the same will be true for you."

"Wait, you're expecting I will lose?" I shrieked and stopped in my tracks. Zoro's confidence in me was literally all I had.

"I mean that I don't expect your fighting spirit to die no matter what happens today," he replied, pushing me along. "If you really want to know, I expect you to win."

Well at least one of us thought so. But I felt more at ease.

"Wanna know why?" he asked with a mischievous grin.

I knew I didn't have a choice. His movements suddenly became more stealth and he advanced on light feet with his hand grasping the hilt of his sword. Ahead of us was a rodent that had given away it's position with a rustling in the undergrowth. I closed my eyes to try to identify the creature. Heavier treading and length in its strides told me it was a rabbit.

As I wondered what kind of metaphorical lesson this rabbit would have, I heard Zoro make a quick movement. I expected to feel the small vacuum of air his blade would create from a quick cut. But the current immediately beside me was hardly disturbed. Instead, I felt something pressing down hard and fast on me from above.

A/N: Hello! I will try to update this story every few days. It's a short one with 7 or 8 parts so hopefully it will be completed soon! Hope you enjoy it (: