Chapter 22

The next morning, Zoro woke up, and as he expected he felt dry and a little nauseous and saw that Robin was heading out of the ship cabin with a robe on and Franky following her up. He looked at the still sleeping teen and carefully removed himself from the other, looked around the cabin, placed a quick kiss on the teen's forehead, and headed out as well to hear a splash. He saw that Franky was heading to the wheel when he saw him.

"Morning Zoro-bro."

"Morning Franky-san…" He said with some hoarseness.

"Sounds like you need to get back in the water."

Zoro nodded as he removed the clothing and dived into the icy cold water and felt the transformation of his two limbs becoming one before he felt more awake and followed the ship from the side along with Robin, who smiled at him before looking ahead. He took it as her way of saying good morning and followed along until he felt the familiar currents that would lead to the island.

"Zoro…" Robin said suddenly as he looked at her. "I'm making my last potion…"

"Huh?"

She smiled. "I've found a way to make myself fully human and not just temporary. But the sea will forever hate me for it."

"What do you mean?"

"It means, once I become human, I will never be able to swim like this ever again. I will sink like a rock."

Zoro blinked as he heard this. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Is it not obvious? I was offering the same for you."

Zoro almost stopped swimming entirely, but quickly recovered. "Would you really do that?"

She smiled, as if that answered everything, which it did.

Zoro thought it was too good to be true, but he would have to talk it over with Luffy to see if it was okay with the teen. A part of him told him that he would be more than thrilled, but another part of him was unsure of what would happen.

"I'll let you think about it." She said. "When you've decided, the potion will be in your secret den."

Zoro thought about the pros and cons of being human, but he couldn't decide what to do when he heard Luffy's frantic calls of his name and went up to show the other that he was there.

"Zoro!" Luffy said as he looked happy to see that the other is there and saw that they were nearing the island and had a crazy idea. But before he could do that, his brother came out and Sanji brought out breakfast, in which the ship slowed down to almost a stop, allowing Robin to sit comfortably at the back of the ship along with Zoro.

***

When they were just a mile away from the warehouse ports, Robin drifted to get back to her home, and Zoro was about to do the same when Luffy jumped ship, causing panic to some of the occupants on the boat while he quickly got to him and brought them to the surface. "What the hell Luffy?!" He said as the other giggled.

"I wanna go with you back to our place." Luffy said which seemed to give his older brother a heart attack.

Zoro shook his head, but he was smiling. "You could've just asked."

Luffy pouted. "What's the fun in that?"

"One, you're brother wouldn't lose three years of his life in a matter of a minute." He said as he looked at the older brother who seemed to be out of it at the moment.

"He'll be fine." Luffy said, which snapped the brother out.

"Oi! You pedelfier! You better not have done anything to my brother!"

"I'm half shark, what the hell would I do?"

"You still got hands!"

"To keep him from drowning." Zoro said as he knew the eldest was going to be an ass to him from this point on, now that the other knew that he really does exist.

"Aw, lighten up Ace! Zoro and I have been friends for a long time! He wouldn't be mean to me." Luffy said as he nuzzled against the other's chest, causing the man to go red and wanted to be anywhere but where there was an audience, especially the elder brother.

Ace seemed to pass out and nearly fell overboard if not for the other's catching him, and they heard him snore.

"You serious?" Smoker said.

"He falls asleep at random like this." Usopp said.

"Come on Zoro! Let's go swim!" Luffy said happily.

Zoro sighed as he moved the other to his back. "Hold on and hold your breath."

Luffy got a lungful of air and both were under the water and the sharkman swam quickly to the cove… which took him three tries to find.

***

When they did arrive in the secret cove, both were on the sandy bank and laid there in comfortable silence.

"It's good to be home…" Zoro said, enjoying the warmth of the sand and sun.

"Yeah… definitely not the same without you here." Luffy said as he found Zoro's hand and held it. "I was so close to losing you…" He squeezed the other's hand.

Zoro squeezed the hand back. "I'm here now thanks to you and everyone." He said as the other looked at him.

Luffy smiled a little and nodded. "And now those guys won't bother any of us ever again."

"They still saw me."

"The people would say that he was crazy or something."

Zoro chuckled, knowing that there's a great deal of people who don't believe in such things as mermaids.

Luffy stared at the other for a moment longer as the other did the same, being in a comfortable silence as he was drying off.

"Better head back to see if your brother is home. After what happened I don't think he can trust me with you for a certain time."

Luffy rolled his eyes. "He just doesn't get it…"

"You could use that time to explain to him so he does."

Luffy saw this logical. "Yeah… you're right." He said, but he didn't make any move to do so.

Zoro figured if he doesn't do something the teen was going to stay in the cove and then Ace would come looking for them and possibly fillet him. "I better see what the damage has done while I was away." He said as he got up and easily got back into the water.

Luffy took that as a cue for him to talk to his brother. "Okay, I'll see you later then."

"I'll be here." He said with a smile as both looked at each other for a moment longer before Zoro submerged to the bottom of the cove.

***

"Ah! You're back!" Said the old octopus.

"Hey there." He said. "It's good to see you again."

The octopus chuckled. "Same here to you and good timing as well."

"What do you mean?"

"I feel that my time is about to reach its end."

Zoro was a bit surprised to hear this, but he also knew that it was bound to happen. "I see…"

"Zoro… you have been a great little shark when you were younger, and now here you are a man."

He shook his head. "Well, it was going to happen."

"True, but I'm talking about your heart."

"My heart?"

"When you first came here, your heart was lonely and wounded by the mere fact that you were different. That of course was quickly erased when the lad had quickly shown you friendship and companionship that you have been denied of at such a young age. But I have watched you over the years and I can honestly say that your heart has grown not only stronger but also filled with love that can only be from the one who has shown you such a feeling in different forms. You, Roronoa Zoro, have found the one thing that is so fragile, yet so powerful that it can even make you feel powerless yet have the strength to take on whatever life has thrown at you."

Zoro knew what the octopus was true, but it was still embarrassing to hear it.

"Of course I'm old and possibly lost my mind."

Zoro knew the sea creature only said that to get a reaction, which has happened before. "Do you want me to say with you?"

"Oh no… I'll be leaving this cove soon."

"Really?"

"Yes… no one would eat something as old as I am… bad taste and even worse after taste I do believe."

"That's not really funny…"

The old octopus chuckled. "It is to a dying octopus. Oh! I almost forgot to give you something."

"That's okay…"

"I've actually saved it for years and haven't found any reason to hand it to. Until now." He brought out what looked like a moss ball.

"A marimo?"

"Yes… It's a special kind that has healing capabilities. I saved it for more than sixty years, and I do believe you can find a good use for it. I obviously didn't find any use for it." He crawled out. "Now then… I better get going…"

Zoro didn't say anything as he watched the old sea creature crawl out. "I hope all is well…"

"Oh it will. I've lived a good life, and I can be sure to say that you will have a good one as well, whatever you choose."

"Huh?"

The sea creature chuckled as he left the cove.

"Oi, wait! What did you-" He followed the other out, only to find that the other wasn't to be seen anywhere. He looked at the marimo and thought about what Robin said earlier.