From the moment the news had reached him, that Raftel had been found at last and One Piece claimed by pirates who had barely traipsed the seas for half a decade, the World's Greatest Swordsman had known this day was coming.
If the swordsman were to be completely honest, he would have to admit that he had known this day was coming since much longer than that; since that moment when boredom or Fate, and it was strange how often those two seemed to meet, had taken him to the weakest sea and lead him to two foolish dreamers who wouldn't hesitate to attack even a Warlord for the sake of their goals.
And yet even though the day had finally come, he wasn't quite sure how it had turned out like this.
Roronoa spat the white sword that he had already unsheathed to glare more efficiently at the petite woman arguing with him.
"You promised you were taking care of Anne today." Monkey D. Luffy was saying with a dangerous growl, her arms crossed in front of her. A muscle tightened in the green swordsman's throat, but she didn't notice or, most likely, didn't care. She narrowed her eyes. Zoro's knuckles were becoming white from the force he was using to hold his sword. Luffy's lips were pressed in a thin line.
Mihawk was actually rather fascinated by the whole thing.
"You know that Vivi was coming today. She is always busy, and I haven't seen her in ages!" Luffy stomped her foot, and anyone could have seen that Zoro's resolve was beginning to crumble.
Apparently the Nefertari heir had, after much re-scheduling and maneuvering, been able to free some time to meet with her former crewmates and her ex-captain and now fellow royal. So Nami, Robin, Luffy and Vivi had, by majority vote, declared the day to be dedicated to a shopping spree that would be stuff of legends.
Except for the fact that no sooner had they docked the ship, the crew had come across the greatest swordsman in the world and of course that was an opportunity that the first mate couldn't waste. He had already jumped aboard and issued the challenge for Hawk Eyes' title before the furious captain caught up with him.
Hence the current drama unfolding.
The rest of the crew had wisely disappeared from view as soon as they saw trouble brewing, and at this point Dracule wondered if he shouldn't interrupt them here and make the bickering couple act their ages.
"What's taking so long?" His dilemma was solved by a pink-haired girl floating three meters above the ground. Three of Perona's ghosts were by her side cackling, though it was hard to figure out if it was because they found the situation funny or simply because it was a job requirement.
Abruptly Zoro looked up and fixed his gaze on Perona with an almost feral look.
"She can look after her, then." He concluded, looking incredibly pleased with himself for having come up with a solution to the problem.
"Oh, I don't believe you!" In that moment, it seemed that only Anne's presence in Luffy's arms had saved Zoro for getting a punch to the face. Perona was similarly put out by the idea.
"I will not take care of that. Babies make too much noise to be cute."
The older swordsman was starting to develop an uncharacteristical twitch on his eyebrow as the argument continued going in circles in such fashion, and he had just about decided to turn around and leave when Perona settled the discussion with a clap of her hands.
"Then leave them to it! It'll be good practice for Mimi!"
That caused Mihawk to choke and Zoro to make a noise that sounded a bit like a cat dying. Perona ignored them.
"I haven't had a girl's day in ages! So, can I go with you?" The pink haired woman asked enthusiastically, doing a pirouette in mid-air in her excitement. The black haired captain shrugged.
"Sure, why not?"
Perona squealed, having already forgotten all about the two men, and started blabbering about everything she wanted to buy and do as she took the other girl's hand and began pulling her back to the ship.
"We'll be back in a couple of hours!" They said and there had never been said a bigger lie. In any case, almost without realizing it the two swordsmen had found themselves with baby, toys, diapers and other necessities in hand as the two girls disappeared from sight.
Anne reached for Wado's edge and her father put it back in its sheath with some colorful cursing that should never have been uttered near an innocent toddler, and caused said toddler to break into a fit of giggles. Zoro then proceeded to seriously tell her that she wasn't allowed to use that language ever. Anne clapped.
Mihawk wondered if his pride shouldn't be a bit wounded by the whole affair.
(He also wondered if the reason why the she-captain had been the first woman to hold the title of strongest person wasn't simply due to the fact that there had never been a Mrs. Newgate).