Roronoa Zoro

Luffy's eyes widen as the kid turned around. The realization was like a slap to the face. It was the teenager from his memories. But younger. Of course he would be younger! Luffy was younger, so everyone else would be to. Why did he think he would be the only one affected by the age thing? Nonetheless, excitement traveled up Luffy's spine. His crew mate was so cool already.

"I'll lock up Sensei." Zoro placed one of his wood katanas on his shoulder while the other hung at his side. His uniform of a white shirt and really dark green pants seemed to match him perfectly. Luffy frowned at Zoro's stomach. There was something missing. A haramaki maybe?

"Good. My thanks." the dojo master put a hat on. "Keep safe Zoro! And don't bother our guest Luffy!" he called, walking out the glass door. It clang shut behind him. Almost immediately, Luffy onto Zoro, pestering him with every question his brain could come up with.

"How old are you? Do you like meat? Why are you so short? Who do you like to fight? What is your last name? Do you poop? When is your birthday? Why is your hair green? What is your favorite food?"

At first, Zoro pushed off the questions like they were nothing, and settled back into his training regimen. But Luffy was more stubborn than he gave credit for, and his mouth kept spitting out question after question until Zoro could no longer ignore it.

"Shut up!" Zoro growled. He answered the three questions he could remember. "I'm twelve, of course I poop I'm human, and my hair is naturally this color." He glared at Luffy, daring the boy with the baseball cap to say more.

Hair color was a sore subject. Let's just say lots of people believed he dyed his hair, despite the fact that he'd had green hair from birth. Other kids were always teasing him about it. So of course Zoro defended the fact that it was his real hair color. It resulted in multiple fights with a lot of different people. And those fights made plenty of places kick him out. He had gained a reputation as a demon for how fiercely he fought, but Zoro didn't care what others said.

Luffy wilted, his enthusiasm disappearing quickly. "You didn't answer all my questions." he muttered dejectedly.

"I'm not answering all those questions." Zoro grouched, swinging his two katanas at the air again. He was determined to ignore the weird kid this time.

Luffy brightened. "How come you use two swords? Doesn't three swords sound better?"

"Three swords." Zoro scoffed. That was too ridiculous to not ignore. "Where would I hold a third sword? My mouth?"

Luffy nodded and Zoro rolled his eyes. Of course that is what the weird kid would say. "Whatever. Go to sleep."

"Okay!" Luffy skipped to his blanket bed by the wooden sword barrel. He carefully placed his hat besides him before Luffy buried himself under the blankets, leaving only the top of his head sticking out. Luffy completely trusted Zoro. Not sure why yet, but Luffy would figure it out soon. After all, Zoro was part of his crew.

Zoro scoffed at Luffy once more and went back to practicing. He held the two wood katanas about a foot apart as he spun around, effectively slicing any enemies surrounding him. Grudgingly, Zoro had to admit the idea of using three swords had sounded right.

But he despised the idea of listening to that kid even more. At least, that is what Zoro tried to tell himself. There was a part of him that actually wanted to obey the weird kid with no questions. It was odd, cause Zoro never wanted to listen to anyone in his whole life like that before. And it started the moment he heard the kid's name. What was it again? He had a really hard time with names, so he didn't expect to remember it.

Luffy. The sudden remembrance of the name derailed his train of thought. Luffy huh? What a weird name. But it was sorta familiar, like he'd heard it- Zoro shook his head, dislodging any more thoughts. He couldn't afford to concentrate on the Luffy kid. He needed to practice so he could scare off that other annoyance!

Minutes of silence went by. Luffy actually stayed quiet, keeping to himself in his blanket huddle. And it would have stayed like that, except the bell rang as the door opened and two brown haired boys swaggered into the dojo. He'd never seen them before. They were obviously older than Zoro, probably around fifteen. But what really caught his attention was the scars that they had on their slightly beefy arms. Zoro's eyes narrowed. They had been through a few fights.

A smaller blond boy trailed in behind the two older boys, and Zoro had to resist a groan. He knew this idiot. It was the other annoyance.

"Hellooo Zoroooo!"

Zoro glared at him and raised one of his wooden practice katanas at the blond's chest.

"Don't raise that thing at me like that! I am Morgan's son, Helmeppo! Do you want my daddy involved in this?" the small blond boy threatened, a smug grin on his face.

Zoro snarled silently at him. That wasn't even a good threat! But he lowered the wood katana nonetheless. "What do you want?"

Helmeppo smiled at the obvious anger in Zoro's tone. He cast his eyes around the building, pretending to examine the inside but he was really just showing off his influence by making Zoro wait. He frowned when he noticed Luffy. "Who's this wimp? Backup for a fight?"

"No. He's just a kid that didn't make it home before night," Zoro shouldered one of his swords. "Ignore him."

Helmeppo jeered at Luffy, who was blatantly staring at him. Luffy cocked his head, scrunching his face in concentration. Why did this blond kid look familiar? Had he met him before? Maybe he was on Luffy's crew.

"Fine. But if he joins in this little meeting of ours in anyway, I'll have my daddy shut this place down."

Zoro stiffened, grounding his teeth in an attempt to control his anger. This brat was nothing, but the threat he carried was very much real. Zoro couldn't let the dojo shut down. It was the only place Zoro was truly comfortable. Not even that stupid foster home made him feel safe. So for the sake of the dojo, Zoro held his temper. Barely. "What... do... you... want?!"

"There's no need to sound so angry. All that I want you to do is join my little special group, and if you do I can get Daddy to save this failing place. It is always so empty. I'm positive that you are the only student. It's destined to shut down eventually, and I can stop that from happening. And if you don't join, then I'll just have to shut this place down." Helmeppo smirked. The way that Zoro's face paled widened the smirk even more.

Several fists clenched and became sweaty. Luffy sucked in a fast breath. That blond guy was such a jerk! He definitely wasn't on his crew. There was no way Luffy would allow someone like that on it!

Helmeppo turned to Luffy. "Got any thoughts on how generous I am wimp? This dying old place is near bankruptcy, and here I am offering to save it if he pledges his loyalty to me. I'm so kind." He paused to hear what Luffy had to say, as he wanted to bask in the praise of the fellow kid.

Instead, Luffy stuck his tongue out at him. "Onion hair!"

Helmeppo straightened abruptly, a surprised look on his face for a moment before it turned into a glare. Zoro let out a small snort. Gutsy move. Then he recovered faced Helmeppo. "I'm not joining your wanna-be gang. I have no interest in becoming a gangster. Plus this place isn't failing! You just keep coming in after everyone left."

"It's not a gang! Daddy would be so disappointed if I made a gang! It's a special group loyal only to me!" Helmeppo insisted. The two boys standing by his sides shifted expectantly.

"It's a gang under a different name." Zoro said. In the background. Luffy shook his head vigorously. Onion Hair was making a gang, even he could get that.

The fifteen year old boy on the right cracked his knuckles and the left one popped his neck as a vein appeared on Helmeppo's head. "You know what? I take back my offer. This stupid building can crumble to dust for all I care. But I can't afford for you to be running your mouth, just in case Daddy hears something about it. Joe, Bob, take care of this trash." He snapped his fingers.

Zoro barely managed to lift both his swords before the boy on the right, Joe, crashed into him, barely raising his swords high enough to block the punch. His feet slid back a millimeter as he struggled to keep his katanas steady. That was hardly noticeable to the others, but it didn't escape Zoro's attention. Crap, this guy was a lot stronger than the average riff-raff Helmeppo brought with him.

Luffy ducked down behind the barrel. The baseball cap was right where he left it, and he determinedly jammed it onto his head. He had seen the way Zoro's arm shook as he blocked the punch, and Luffy just had to help. Usually Luffy refused to fight in other people's battles, but this was different. He wasn't about to let one of his crew members get beaten by a kid! He took a step away from the barrel.

Zoro's eyes jerked to Luffy, catching the other boy's action and correctly interpreting the intention. There was no way Zoro was letting a random stranger get involved in his trouble. "Stay there! This is my business, and my business alone."

Luffy paused. What was he thinking? Zoro was right, this was his fight, and Luffy had no right to join in. He nodded in agreement, and stepped back to the barrel. Luffy leaned against it, his head tilted down slightly so that the visor of his cap covered his eyes while a single hand rested on top of the hat.

Zoro turned back to Joe. Excitement started to pound through the child's body, and a devilish smirk appeared on his face. He couldn't wait to start fighting, hadn't had a good fight in ages. Zoro pushed the boy back with a surprising bout of strength and quickly swiped Joe's head. There was a loud smack as the two connected, and the boy's head tilted slightly from the force, but that was it. No reaction. Zoro frowned. That wasn't right. The kid should be crying on the floor right now. He aimed another blow at his opponent's head as Joe stood still. Nothing. Not even a reflexive sound like a gasp or a grunt.

"What?" Zoro breathed.

That's when the boy on the left, Bob, struck. He flew over the distance even faster than Joe, and struck Zoro with a heavy punch to the side. Zoro flew sideways, smashing into the wooden barrel, crushing it into pieces. Luffy yelped as a giant splinter barely missed his head and pierced the wall behind him. Zoro moaned in pain as wooden swords began to tumble out of the barrel and all over him, but he kept his grip on his two weapons.

Helmeppo laughed his irritating, aggravating laugh. "That won't do anything stupid. Their daddy use to beat these them with sticks all the time before I saved them, and they were so grateful that they joined my group. They don't feel your little sword attacks. If you want to hurt them, you're going to need actual swords."

"Dang it!" Zoro cursed as he struggled to escape the swords. "Sensei refuses to have real swords here!"

He hauled himself out of the practice sword pile. Zoro's side burned like someone jabbed a hot poker to it, but he stubbornly ignored it and forced himself to his feet. The Luffy kid was giving him a weird look as Zoro kicked the extra swords away from his feet, a mixture of nostalgia and hope. One practice sword went spinning, coming to a halt the the kid's feet. The Luffy kid picked it up and stared at is as if it held an answer to all his questions.

Zoro ignored him. He couldn't afford to concentrate on something else outside the fight. It could get him in serious trouble. He lifted his two practice swords, and Zoro's eyes narrowed. He could win this. It would be close, but he could win. He'd probably need a hospital after though. Zoro launched himself forward, and right as he moved something was hastily shoved into his mouth. He could tell from the taste of wood and sweat that was the hilt of another wooden sword.

What?

Something inside him exploded. A rush of power tumbled out of him as Zoro threw himself at the two fifteen year olds. The power was clumsy, but excited, like it had been locked away for a long time and was now finally released. He bit harder on the hilt as his heart started to beat faster and adrenaline pumped through his veins. Without thinking, Zoro crouched and crossed his arms and stuck his practice swords straight up into the air as he flew forward. At what felt like the perfect moment, Zoro uncrossed his arms and held them straight out to the sides as he came to an abrupt halt.

He held that pose for a couple moment, letting his heart calm down and the adrenaline fade away. Zoro blinked, a little unsteady as he straightened. Where was he? This was the other side of the dojo, by the door. Did he travel across the entire building in one move? Huh. A thrill of joy shot up Zoro's spine when he heard Joe and Bob shriek in pain. Yes, he'd actually hurt the jerks! When two thumps sounded behind him, his joy turned to confusion.

A/N: Hello to the incredible readers who are still following! You guys are the best, and I really loved all of your comments. It makes it even better when I consider that this isn't even my best work. Its stuff I wrote years ago and then edited more recently without trying to mess with the main idea. My real good stuff starts at the end of Usopp's conversion, so I hope you guys can continue patiently waiting while I get through this.

So, there is no sword-crazy-Kuina in this. I can explain. My reasoning in the story is that she had other stuff that caught her attention. And with all the women self empowering stuff going around, she never felt the need to prove herself as strong, so she didn't pick up the sword for that reason. I'm sure she's swung it around a few times, but never pursued it farther. My real reason is that I figured she is dead in the real One Piece, so I'd just leaver be. Also cause I couldn't figure out how to fit her in and still make Zoro leave the dojo easily.

Anyways, thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!