Hey everyone, I wanted to continue my non-cannon chapter since you all seemed to like it a lot! This one is a bit on the short side, I'm sorry, but the next chapter will continue with the cannon of Kimi and the others in Thriller Bark. Promises!

Also, due to receiving my 100th review by VenVen, I've asked her for the idea of another short non-cannon story for the end of this chapter. She requested Zoro and Kimi's life in the distant future...so I hope VenVen and everyone likes it! (Who knows if it'll ever happen or not? Eh?) Special thanks to all the reviewers from the last chapter, Guest-Red, Totong, Fanboy316, DinoZilla, VenVen and the 3 Guests!

-yesiamweird

Taking another sip from her glass, Kimiko looked over at the swordsman drinking straight from the bottle. He was already on his third bottle; meanwhile she had just started on her second cup of their shared sake. "How do you drink so much?" She giggled astounded by his pace. "I mean… I know I'm not the world's best drinker but still…"

Zoro proudly smiled, "This stuff goes down like water. When you're short on money, shitty sake is the only thing people will offer you..."

"Did you get lost?" Kimi smirked back at his story. The words caused a bright blush on the man's face. "I did not!" He demanded which, in turn, caused the scientist to giggle once again. "I was just trying to find bounties to collect."

"So, you were really a pirate bounty hunter before a pirate?" She questioned. When she first joined the crew, Kimi had sought out to discover the pasts of her crewmates. Out of all of them, Zoro was the most reluctant to reveal any sort of background information to the woman.

"Yea. You didn't know that?"

She shook her head.

"Well," Zoro grinned evilly while placing his empty bottle to the side. "If you get me another bottle of sake from the kitchen I'll tell ya all about it."

"Zoro, aren't you supposed to be on watch duty tonight? You can't get drunk…"

He simply rolled her eyes at her as if saying, really?

"Fine." She groaned and cloned herself to retrieve another large bottle. Once the clone returned, the swordsman opened the bottle and poured a little bit into Kimiko's glass before taking full custody of the drink.

"Well… yea. I guess I was a bounty hunter before I met Luffy." He nodded. The two were close to one another sitting alongside the seat of the lookout/workout room. "It wasn't something I was really into… just did it to get money for food and drink."

Kimi nodded with a smile taking another sip. "So how did you meet Luffy then?"

Zoro was quiet for a minute trying to reminiscent on the right words to say. The silence almost became uncomfortable for the scientist, but she took another sip to not allow the awkward situation to reveal itself on her cheeks. "I was in a town. Some marine was being a jerk to a little girl and her mother. In replacement for their execution I promised the marine I could survive 30 days tied to a pole."

His words caused the scientist to blink her bright blue eyes in shock. Yes, Zoro had a sense of honor despite his idiotic ideas from time to time… but she would have never imagined he would go to such lengths to protect someone he didn't even know. "Why did you do that?" She questioned.

"Because… they did nothing wrong."

Kimi avoided his stern gaze and looked down to her glass instead. Swirling the golden liquid in the cup Kimi nodded in understanding.

"Anyways, Luffy found me tied up to a pole. Asked me to join. Didn't think he was being serious since he didn't even have a ship or crew."

"That sounds about right... For Luffy, anyways." She rolled her eyes. "Wait so you were the first one to join him, so technically you're the first mate?" She smiled.

"Technically, but Luffy nor I like the term. We are all nakama…" Zoro turned his head away from the blue haired woman, taking a large sip from the bottle.

"Yes." She smiled cheerfully. "We all are… I've never had friends before." And suddenly Kimi cursed her spoken thoughts inside of her mind. She didn't exactly want to reveal her own past to the crew – or at least not all of it.

"Wha? Never?" The swordsman raised an eyebrow. Kimi scratched the back of her head while avoiding his look. "Uh… well no. I was always in a laboratory all day with my father and sister. I didn't have time to even leave the house, much less play with friends."

"That's sad." Zoro muttered. "Sorry…"

"Well it's okay now. I have all of you guys." She smiled to the floor while staring mindlessly at her shoes. "What about you?" She turned to face him. "What about your friends before all of this? … being pirates, I mean."

Once again, Zoro fell silent while reminiscing on the appropriate words to reveal. "I've made friends in the past, but they are just memories now."

Sensing his angst for the subject, Kimi frowned after taking a sip of her lukewarm drink. The burn of the alcohol forced her lips into a frown and forcing her to wipe away the droplets of liquid beading around her lips. "Is that good or bad?"

Her questing instigated Zoro to laugh before taking another sip. "Both, I guess… it's never a good thing to have your childhood friend pass away so suddenly, but without that even occurring then I wouldn't have my dream."

"Your dream?" Kimi repeated looking to him. "Of being the world's best swordsman?" He nodded which caused the woman to nod. "I guess that is good and bad… you wouldn't be here if it never happened."

"Nope." He confidently replied. "Kuina wouldn't have wanted her or my dream to be unfulfilled…"

Kimi raised an eyebrow at the green-haired man, "Kuina? Isn't that a girl's name?"

"Yea." The swordsman grunted while placing his bottle of sake firmly against the wooden seat. "Got a problem with it?" Kimiko only shook her head to calm the bottled-up of emotions within the man. "No… I just figured you would have had male friends…"

"Yea well- ugh. Whatever…"

Kimi felt bad revealing the truth behind the gender of his friend, but deep down something sparked a lighbulb in her head. "Kuina…" She repeated and then took another sip of the liquid that burned as it slid down her throat. "…that's such a pretty name…" A look of astonishment flushed across Zoro's face. He wasn't expecting such a comment, since he'd never revealed Kuina or his past to the rest of the crew before. With somewhat flushed cheeks, Zoro pointed a finger. "You'd better not tell anyone about this, got it?!"

"I wont. I promise… I bet she was a great swordsman since her dream was the same as yours. Correct?" Kimi assumed the girl must have had something to do with his training. He nodded, "She was… better than me."

"Huh? Seriously?! I can't even imagine!"

Zoro laughed, "Ha, well I'm not the greatest quite yet. After all, Mihawk is still out there."

"Oh, do you mean Dracule Hawk-eye Mihawk?" Kimi suggested after finishing the rest of her sake in her cup. Zoro noded and then raised an eyebrow at the woman, "Yea you don't remember- oh wait… you weren't a part of the crew yet."

"No, I guess I wasn't." Kimiko adjusted herself comfortably which, un planned, made her shoulder connect with Zoro's. The two looked at each other quickly, blushed, and then scooted away. Hesitantly, Kimi chuckled, "What do you mean by, I wasn't a part of the crew yet?"

Placing his empty bottle to the floor, Zoro sighed. "It was only Nami, Sanji, and Usopp at the time. We came across Mihawk and I challenged him." His story caused the blue-haired woman to gulp. "But it doesn't matter. The next time we meet, I will defeat him."

It was finally Kimi's chance to speak up about his large scar that ran across his chest. From examining it during his workout sessions, she assumed that a sword must have caused it since it was a continuous line without ridges. "Zoro, if you don't mind telling me… that is, if you don't mind me asking, really… how did you receive the scar across your torso?"

It was almost a look of amusement, or maybe confusion, that excited Zoro's face at her statement. Touching his left peck, the man sighed. "This was caused by that confrontation," He paused while allowing Kimiko to gasp on cue. "A scar on the back is a swordsman's shame… Mihawk defeated me and I allowed him to retaliate by this scar."

His words fluttered through the air of the room, allowing Kimiko to absorb the intensity of his pride... however, he wasn't expecting a light punch from the woman's balled fist against his shoulder. "You are so reckless, Zoro! Why would you allow him to give you a life threating attack like that?! Why is it that you are so willing to chop up your body?! Just like wanting to chop off your hand in Enis Lobby!"

"I tried to cut off my ankles too." The swordsman admitted.

The blue-haired woman dropped her head with a large sweatdrop. "How many times must I tell you, you are not a doll Zoro! Wait, you tried to cut off your feet?"

"Yea."

"Ugh." Kimi slapped her forehead in the palm of her gloved hand. The remark caused a defensive retaliation from the swordsman, "What and you don't have any scars on your body?"

His comment caused Kimiko to stiffen and freeze instantly.

Catching her hesitation, Zoro raised an eyebrow allowing her a moment of silence to respond. When she didn't, he placed a welcoming hand on her shoulder. "Never mind… I don't really care." His hand retailed slowly into his side while his head turned to stare at the abyss of the room.

Once again, the two were stuck in the awkward silence, both looking away from another, both not having a drink to sip on, and both not knowing what more to say to the other.

A meek yawn sounded from the scientist's lips causing Zoro to turn his head to look at her. Almost instinctively Kimiko turned her head as well. "Zoro," She whispered with her innocent and sweet smile, "I'm glad to know more about you… but for right now, I think I should head to bed." He nodded while letting go of her shoulder to allow the small-framed woman to stand.

Despite not being as curvy-figured as the other two women on the ship, Kimiko was in no means at the bottom of the scale. Hiding her body, unless pressured by Nami, left much curiosity to what she was hiding. It was only during certain occurrences, Enis Lobby being most recent, in which she flaunted her thin figure. Growing up as a scientist all these years must have caused her frame, he supposed.

Before exiting the room, Kimiko turned to the tired swordsman, "Goodnight Zoro." She smiled.

"Night."

A thunderous boom forced Kimiko to toss and turn in her sleep. "Huh?" She gasped identifying the noise of cannonball fire instead of the weather. But that's what happens when an infamous pirate stops sailing the ocean with her crew after defying the world on their adventure...

With a turn of her head, she expected to see her husband lying peacefully in his deep sleep as always, but frowned as the sight. Placing a hand over where he usually slept, she noticed it was cold indicating that he must have been out of the bed for quite some time now.

By this point, all of the covers on the bed were twisted and turned about from her constant thrashing in her sleep. But of course, tonight was the one night she had gotten the most hours of sleep in about two weeks, that number being 5 and a half. With a groan she rolled out of bed carefully and pulled on her silk deep blue night-robe.

While shuffling her aching and swollen feet throughout her new home, Kimiko frowned not seeing her husband in the living room or kitchen. Placing her palm against her forehead, she came to the realization that he still might have gotten lost in their new home. After all, he had gotten lost more than a reasonable amount in their old home, the Thousand Sunny.

"He must be in the dojo…" She assumed placing her fist into her palm and quickly set off for the room. Before peaking her head into the opened room, she noticed a shadowed figure sitting motionlessly outside on the covered porch. "He's out there?" She tilted her head and reached for the door. Pushing the glass aside, Kimiko took in the pungent smell of the fresh rain pouring from the sky.

Neither she, nor her husband said anything, despite the other knowing of their presence. Shuffling softly, Kimi walked behind her meditating spouse. "Why aren't you sleeping with me?" She whispered before kneeling.

He didn't respond. But only grunted as she pressed her swollen breasts against his back.

"You know you won't get that much sleep soon… and I know how much you like your sleep. Well, everyone does really…" She leaned her chin in the crevasse of his strong, thick neck.

"I just… couldn't sleep… too much on my mind." He placed his strong calloused hands on her shoulder while gently rubbing the soft blue silk fabric on top of her skin.

"Why can't you sleep? You do realize I'm currently the one with the sleeping problem?" Kimiko kissed his cheek. "Luckily the morning sickness is gone, finally."

Zoro smiled. Twisting his back, his hands scooped around her bulging belly. Making contact with her thin waist, he squeezed her tenderly and placed his pregnant wife gently in his lap. Her legs draped pass his hips towards the house. "Luckily… I don't know how much more guilt I could take of that." He kissed her forehead.

"Guilt?" Kimiko sneered and then kissed the bottom of his scarred eye and then traveled her lips up to his forehead where the scar stopped. It was her favorite affectionate urge she loved to do to him. "Why are you feeling guilty, Zoro?"

He sighed while allowing his head to lean backwards. "I guess I just… I don't know… it's stupid."

"Nothing is ever stupid." Kimi smiled and then curved her neck so she could kiss his exposed shoulder not being shrouded by clothing. "Well, I take that back… Luffy, Brook, and Usopp are an exception to that saying. Sometimes Sanji too."

Zoro growled. "Especially Mr. Nosebleed!" His retaliation only caused the usual giggle from his wife. "I know… I know. But at least Sanji was happy about the baby."

"Happy? Kimiko, he threw all of the frying pans at me!"

"Well he gave me a hug." The blue-haired woman smiled innocently as always. "You should try to go back to sleep, Zoro. Besides… only three more months of peacefulness before Kuina comes… you are going to want all the sleep you can get."

Zoro chuckled. "I know… but there's just something about this rain…It allows me to release everything off my chest."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed, "I've been thinking. A lot… considering I'm going to be a father soon, I figured I'd better meditate about my past and get my regret to subside."

"Regret?" Kimi hugged her husband's shoulders tighter. Her belly, although somewhat small for being six months pregnant, separated the two just enough for them to only make eye contact. "What kind of regret?"

The swordsman sighed. "I might have done a lot of bad things in the past… I've killed a lot of people… caused a lot of damage to my body… and I haven't been able to protect you to the full extent…"

His wife rolled her eyes before kissing his tender lips. "Is that all?" She whispered huskily. "We were pirates… and you never have to regret me… I was the one that was wrong. By not including you all about my past was completely my fault."

At that moment, Zoro's hands had ventured through the bottom of his wife's pajama top and traveled up the length of her back. His fingertips outlined the large scar across it. "I know… but I still regret it." He muttered.

Not one to take this over-apologized story, Kimi threw her lips back onto Zoro's while taking every scent, every taste, every gasp in. She was lucky; she never felt as if her relationship had ever gotten worn-out. Every time they kissed, it felt as if it was the first time. The two of them grunted for control but like always the swordsman proved his dominance.

"Kimiko…" He gasped pulling back suddenly.

"Yes?" His wife kissed his cheek quickly and then replaced her lips with her hand.

"At least, with you, I know for a fact, I've at least done two things right. I've married the most brilliant and beautiful woman in the world, and now I'm about to have another brilliant and beautiful woman come into my life."

Tomoko Kimiko puffed before staring back into his eyes. "Zoro… I love you…"

"And I love you too…"

Absoultely craving his taste, Kimi leaned in for a kiss while he did the exact same. But like any good movie ruiner moment, baby Kuina kicked forcing Kimi to wheeze at the sudden pain and turn her head.

"Oi, what's wrong?!"

Kuina continued to kick. Wanting her husband to experience this moment, Kimi grasped his wrist into her palm and placed it on the spot. "Do you feel her?"

"I do!" He smiled. The look on his once tired face turned into utter happiness. "Ow!" Kimi groaned after an intense bowel movement. "Well I think this is time for me to go now…" She nodded while dismounting off of Zoro's hips. "Please babe, try to get some sleep today… Because I promise Kuina is going to want your undivided attention in three months. Whether you are asleep or not!"