The morning light woke me up along with the lack of a fever. Did he give me medicine? I'll have to thank him later.

My eyes fluttered open to see Rocinante trying to pick up my sword, but failing horribly. His hand just kept slipping through it. Even after all these years, he still had trouble being a ghost. I could hear him quietly cursing and giggled softly at his frustration. This caught his attention and he turned around embarrassed.

"A-Ah, sorry." He gave me a lopsided smile and rubbed the back of his neck. "No it's fine, just why do you want it?" I climbed out of bed and pulled my pants on so I was decent. Walking over to him I popped my back then picked up my sword. I looked at the blade before deciding it needed to be cleaned. I would have to do that later...

Rocinante sighed as the small blush died down on on his cheeks. "I want to see you fight-"

"But you've see me fight." I was confused. He has accompanied me to more than one of my jobs.

"-honestly. In a duel, with a swordsman of your level." His eyes looked straight at me. He had a serious face and put a hand on my sword. I smiled. "You already set this up." He put on a goofy smile to hide what he was implying, but I wasn't stupid. "Should I be dueling when I'm recovering from a cold?" I changed the subject.

"Why not? You did a job with a cold." My smile formed into a smirk as I strapped my sword to my side and locked up the room. As we walked down the hall to the front desk I looked curiously at the tall man. My smirk quickly turned into a devious one as I stole the hat off his head and ran out of the inn, leaving my pay with the reception lady.

Third person pov

Rocinante stood there for a moment processing what just happened. Then he cursed under his breath and stomped out of the building, searching for his companion, but she was gone. The blonde sighed as people phased through him. "Where did she go?" He muttered to himself.

She came back a few hours later, and by then Rocinante was stressing because it was almost time for the duel. Monique walked casually with his hat over her head and returned it to the rightful owner. "Where did you go?" Rocinante asked when he stood up to leave. Monique's smile twitched but stayed plastered on her face; a mask. "I got the pay from my job." She took out a small sack filled with beli. His eyes lingered on the fake smile she was giving him but said nothing.

"So who am I fighting?" She asked once they were on their way. "Roronoa Zoro."

Monique's pov

"Really? How did you get him to do this?" I've heard things about him, and his goal. "Hey we're here! Now go get 'em!" Rocinante dodged my question by pushing me into an abandoned building. Wow, this place is NOT structurally sound. My haki picked up on him before he even walked in the building. He was unsure, but why? I had already calculated the outcome of the battle, and I would win...

...I always win...

As soon as he stepped into the crumbling structure, I saw his green hair, and a little girl trailing behind him. She had a smile on her face and gave a small wave once she realized I could see her. The small girl had dark hair that stretched down to her shoulders. I looked to the tanned man, he was staring at me.

Zoro pov

I stepped into the building and saw that on the other side of the room is where a small girl was standing with a long sword. She had a good figure dispute how short she was. Long dark brown hair fell to her waist. Vibrant green eyes looked at something behind me and a slight smile was painted on her lips. She wore a navy blue tank top and black, ripped jeans. The dim light reflected off a silver locket that hung around her neck. She was barefoot with glossy black nail polish both on her finger and toe nails. But what stood out the most was the viper tattoo coiled around her arm. The ink filling in the venomous snake was mostly green and yellow, but a mix of colors were also decorating the viper's scales. Just under the snake was a date tattooed.

8-25

The girl never drew her sword, She just stood there with a blank expression.

Her slightly tanned skin was illuminated by what little sunlight filtered through the dirty windows of the abandoned building.

"I don't want to fight you."

Her voice was small, but far from frail. Almost daring you to underestimate her. But was there a note of sadness in there? Maybe I imagined it. "I've seen the promises you have made, and you need to keep them. You also need to be there for your captain. And Kuina says thank you for keeping her sword, she's happy."

Monique's pov

His eyes visibly widened when I said that. I looked back at the small girl and smiled softly once again as as she beamed and said a thanks. I gave a swift nod and I felt Cora teleport me back to the bay where I killed that guy, leaving a very confused Zoro in an abandoned building.

"What the hell was that?!" Rocinante looked frustrated, and by the tone of his voice he was. I looked up at him with a blank expression. "They cleaned up the body already." I said with a hint of amusement creeping in my voice. "They already called the marines. We have to go." I muttered as I walked to my dinghy and placed my sword down. There was a small smirk on my face as I glanced back at Rocinante and took his hand to pull him on the boat. His rage slowly turned into happiness as he grinned realizing that I ended the fight early to see the person he was always talking about so fondly.

To see Law.