Hi, people! This is Mage of Hope speaking! I've had a busy year and still am busy with other personal things at home! But I am proud to announce the first part of the trilogy of Scaled Piece! Just a heads up, the first part is planned to be short than the other two parts of the trilogy!
Another thing I'd like to mention is that this first part takes place approximately one year before the actual events of One Piece! Before Luffy officially forms his pirate crew! So there's a bunch of context between Zoro and my OC the one year before! That said, enjoy!
Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own One Piece, only the OCs. One Piece is created by Eiichiro Oda and run by Toei Animation! Please support the official release!
Roronoa Zoro was not a man to be trifled with. He was one of the strongest swordsmen out in East Blue and he made his name by winning fights against every single person who ever tried to fight him as well as hunting down pirates with bounties to their names. His pride wouldn't let him admit defeat so easily and he would rather have a fair chance in a fight than not do anything at all.
During his travels, he started hunting down bounties because he still needed food to survive. Even on his quest to become the World's Greatest Swordsman, he needed money to survive. Hence why he started slaying wanted pirates not only for money but also to improve his skills. Plus, bounty hunters like him mostly tended to kill their targets with no consequences whatsoever.
Soon, Zoro started to despise pirates during his line of work as a bounty hunter. He'd come to see pirates as the most scummiest of people possible because from his experience, they were nothing more than greedy, entitled, cruel bastards who steal and kill people for their own selfish desires, whether they were innocent or not. Zoro didn't cared much about justice, but even he knew that each pirate kill was a small way for the world to be safer from scum like them.
As time passed, he started becoming known as Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro.
Zoro wasn't a man who cared much about fame, but being famous gave him more chances of fighting numerous tough opponents and gaining more experience, winning and growing stronger in the process. Fighting for more challenges and to become stronger made Roronoa Zoro become a swordsman known all over East Blue.
He was always ready for whatever challenges came his way and the strongest and more well-known he became, the more fearsome he seemed. Even a lowly thug wouldn't dare mess with Zoro, or else he would've already taken care of them already.
But despite this, Zoro never really felt like he truly belonged anywhere.
Even though he had all this strength and skills that helped keep people safe from pirates and had grown stronger, there was something missing in his life.
A sense of belonging.
And it wasn't just the type of belonging in just one random place. He wanted, no, NEEDED someone to rely on. Someone who would accept him for who he was. Who he is. Someone to trust. Someone to depend on. Someone..that he'd be willing to protect. He just had that sort of guardian protector aura around him, he suppose.
Though, he couldn't imagine anyone that could fit that description. It would be nice to have a companion by his side that he could trust and protect. But at the same time, it'd seem pretty pointless to follow a dangerous man whose constantly risking his own life for money and for more strength.
Plus, Zoro was a loner his entire life. Ever since his childhood rival, Kuina, died, there didn't seem anyone who could match his strength. Sure, there was the dojo students but he wasn't particularly close to any of them. There wasn't anyone that Zoro could acknowledge as a true friend. Anyone else respected and yet feared him for his ferocious reputation.
That was fine, though. Zoro was used to it, anyways.
So, it wasn't really surprising when he found himself getting lonely more often than before. There were times where he could feel his loneliness creeping into his heart as he found himself growing tired more frequently not just through endless battles with challengers and pirates but also the lack of a companion around.
At first, he thought it was nothing serious. He was used to be alone all the time anyway and he felt alright being alone throughout the rest of his life. The only difference was that he wasn't sure what he was feeling anymore since something about him had changed.
Now, he felt like the days were longer, colder, and less interesting. The challenges became less thrilling because the challengers were weak. It was more easier to earn money by killing the pirates because they were a lot weaker than Zoro anticipated. The more Zoro grew stronger, the more easier it was for him to take down enemies. While it was good to earn money for survival and becoming stronger, he knew deep down this was far from enough to challenge Mihawk, the current Greatest Swordsman in The World. And none of this dulled his wish for a companion.
That was when one day, his world, along with another's, changed forever.
It all started when Zoro took a request to hunt down a pirate for the bounty on his head. But it wasn't just one pirate he was dealing with, but his entire pirate crew, the Blood Fangs. Fortunately, while the pirate crew had many crew members, they were all talk and no bark.
In other words, they were weak.
With so many opponents surrounding him in no time, Zoro grew excited as he untied the bandanna on his arm and tied it around his head. Without a second thought, he rushed into battle with full confidence and vigor running through his blood. His strength was something to be amazed by all, Though, his battle-crazed grin and his stoic, merciless attitude in battle was something that caused all pirates to fear his name.
Battle-hungry he may be, Zoro knew his actual target was the captain of the Blood Fangs, Captain Sanguine. He needed to track down and locate the captain who was somewhere in the ship. Otherwise, he might lose his chance and the captain might run away. He's had cases in the past where his target usually escapes and leaves the rest of their pirate crew's fates to Zoro, the cowardly targets.
Like many of his other battles, Zoro was merciless to both the Blood Fangs and Captain Sanguine. Slashing and stabbing through every single one of them, the swordsman scouted out the remainder of the ship to make sure he killed every last one of the pirates. Although he made quick work of them, he still received cuts and injuries on his body, torn clothes and blood trickling down his face as evidence of his battle. While in the midst of searching and killing, he decided to roam the rest of the ship to scavenge for money and other useful supplies.
That was when he came across a jail cell deep underneath the deck, where inside, he found a lone girl.
Zoro had seen pirates slaughtering others and pillaging homes, but he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Inside the jail cell was a dirtied, thin-looking girl with chains all over her ankles, wrists, and collar. Her clothes were in torn rags and her face, dirty and bruised. She was fairly petite, but Zoro could tell that she was a young girl in her very late teens to early 20s. Her whitish hair was caked with blood and dirt and very messy. Her blue eyes, completely devoid of life, simply focused down on the ground as the young girl sat, hugging her knees to her chest.
But what truly disturbed Zoro the most was her body. There were many-no, countless scars, bruises, and burn marks all over her arms, legs, and, if Zoro had to guess, much more hidden behind her horrible rags of clothing.
Zoro didn't need to be a genius to guess that this girl was a slave.
This girl...it was clear that she was in a horrible, ragged state. Even though Zoro never met her, seeing someone chained up and suffering was hard to handle. It may have been months, maybe years since she could have been a slave and she had likely suffered more abuse than what she was showing right then.
An inexplicable rage filled Zoro's entire body when he found the girl in such a state. Finding her only solidified his hatred for such scummy pirates. How could they? Just how low were scum like pirates?! Zoro couldn't help but growl at the thought of such scum now committing to heinous crimes like slavery.
Hearing the growl uttered from Zoro's throat, the girl glanced up and saw an swordsman stained with bloody with such fury in his eyes. Her dull blue eyes lit up, but with fear behind them. Afraid as though she accidentally invoked Zoro's rage, the girl hid her face and was quivering like a leaf.
Zoro paused when he saw the fear in her eyes and understood perfectly well that she was probably terrified by his presence. She probably even assumed that he was one of the many pirate members that imprisoned her. Given how thuggish he appeared, combined with his injuries, the blood stains on his body, and the dark expression he had on, she could hardly be blamed for mistaking Zoro for a pirate.
He crouched down to the girl's level, deciding to talk to her through the bars. Deeply concerned with her current condition, Zoro's expression converted to that of gentleness as he tried to soothe the frightened girl.
"Shh, shh...it's alright. I won't come any closer. Just stay there. It'll be okay, alright? I'm going to get you out of here."
Not waiting for an answer, Zoro stood up and left the jail cell area to try and find the keys. Eventually, he found them in the captain's quarters before returning back to the jail cell area. Using the keys, he unlocked her jail cell before entering.
Startled, the girl fell back and stared up at Zoro with fear in her eyes. Zoro knew that even though she seemed scared of him, it was more of the fact that she was scared of him because she thought he was associated with the pirates, which made Zoro's hatred for pirates much stronger. Perhaps because she didn't want to get in trouble, the girl kept silent the whole time, though was still trembling.
Though Zoro's fury towards the pirates hasn't subsided, he put aside those feelings in favor for the girl. His eyes softened with a smile plastered on his face. He used the rest of the keys to unlock the chained shackles around her wrists, ankles, and collar. The shackles fell to the ground with loud clanking sounds and large, visible, deepened red marks were seen where the chained shackles were previously.
The girl blinked, surprised that such a smile of kindness was directed towards her. She hasn't felt such kindness directed towards her at all. She was even more surprised when the man suddenly unlocked her shackles. Wouldn't he be in huge trouble for doing that? She was frightened at what the man planned to do to her. Was this all a trick? Was he planning on making her clean the decks or whatever chores were planned for her this time?
As though sensing her fear and hesitation, Zoro tried to assure her everything was going to be alright. "Hey, shh...it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you, alright? Look at my hand. Can you see it?" he asked, putting his hand out so she could better see it. It was meant to act as a small distraction to calm her down.
The girl's gaze wandered back and forth between his hand and his face, then finally settled on his eyes again. Her expression slowly changed until she looked relaxed.
"Hey," continued Zoro. "Now that everything's settled, you mind telling me your name?"
The girl tilted her head at the question before shaking her head. She grabbed her throat with her hand and shook her head again. That left Zoro confused. Was the girl unable to talk for some reason? Did she have a sore throat or something? Either way, it didn't look like she could provide him with any answers.
But he could still help her.
Zoro stood up and offered his hand to her. "My name is Zoro. Roronoa Zoro. And I'm here to get you out of here. Please, just trust me on this."
He watched as the girl hesitatingly put her hand on his, rubbing it softly to try and offer her comfort. With a grunt, he pulled her up strongly and helped her steady on her feet. She looked quite young, but she appeared around his age, maybe even a bit younger? And while she was skinny, she was definitely shorter than him and had lots of marks, bruises, blisters and scars all over her hands, arms, and legs, which meant those bastards of pirates worked her to the bone.
After helping the girl stand up, he realized that she was probably going to see the dead bodies everywhere. Although Zoro wasn't very good at comforting people, even he knew that the girl would be even more frightened if she saw so much bloodshed and bodies. As such, he took off his bandanna and wrapped it around the girl's eyes to act as a blindfold and to avoid allowing her to see the corpses of the bastards who enslaved her. Of course, Zoro guided her the entire time, having one sword in hand and the other wrapped around the girl's shoulders.
Outside, Zoro had a small boat docked nearby when he went to invade and take on the Blood Fangs. Seeing the boat underneath where the ship was, he then carried her over his shoulder and heading to his boat.
After placing her down on the boat, Zoro unwrapped the bandanna before wrapping it back around his arm. "Stay here, alright? Get some sleep. Don't worry about me, I'll be right back."
Zoro watched as the girl nodded; her eyes droopy and her head nodding back and forth. She soon fell asleep and laid on her side, all curled up. After confirming that the girl did fall asleep, Zoro returned back to the deck where the corpses were and sliced off their heads, collecting them all in a large sack so they provided as proof of him eliminating not only their captain, but his crew as well. After scouring the entire ship, collecting heads and stuffing them in the large sack, Zoro did managed to find some money and a cloak. He threw the bloody sack of heads onto the boat he came onto, though did initially panic because he had forgotten that the girl he rescued was still asleep.
The bloody sack of heads did make quite an impact upon landing on the boat and splashed around, but the boat remained steady and the girl seemed undisturbed in her sleep. Relieved, Zoro climbed down and landed on his boat before turning to the girl with the cloak he collected. He wrapped the girl in the cloak like a blanket, pushing her hair out of her face and making sure she was sleeping in a comfortable position. He then sailed off to head towards the nearest island.
Zoro came prepared for a fight, but he certainly didn't come prepared to rescue a slave girl. She definitely was in dire need of help. She needed food, water, a doctor to look her over, and possibly a lot more. The girl must have suffered greatly before he came along and needed healing.
But even with all these factors, he knew he'd still help her. He just didn't know how much of an impact she would have on his life and for the future to come.
The girl had no name. No, that wasn't really true. She's been called many names: Slave, Slave Girl, Filth, and a lot of...profanity names she preferred not to think of.
The girl herself couldn't even remember a single thing in her life. She had little to no recollection of any memories from when she was a child or much past that. In fact, the girl didn't have a single, happy memory in her life. All she could remember was her time as a slave, being passed from master to master. Sometimes her master was a rich person, other times they were pirate captains.
Everyday was the same for the girl. Wake up early, cook, clean, do any and all chores, heal and mend any wounds, cook, receive her daily beatings for even the slightest bit of mistakes made, and then sleep late, only to repeat the process over and over again. The girl had to endure and suffer beatings, whippings, starvation, and other forms of abuse and punishment pretty much everyday and despite that, people would still say she was a pretty slave.
The girl was aware that she was a highly valued slave not just for her skills, but also for her appearance and rare healing abilities. When not dirtied, her silver snow-colored hair was quite a rarity that complemented her blue eyes. She was especially sought after for her healing powers that were acquainted with the element of water , which meant she could only heal so long as she had a source of water available.
Even so, none of her traits were enough to allow her to escape punishment and cruelty from her masters. She suffered heavily for years and she endured and did everything she could to stop the pain everyday, even if to stop the pain a little. The future that awaited her was certainly covered in darkness.
That is, until the swordsman came.
He was tall, intimidating, and very strong. Despite all of that, there was kindness behind his eyes as well. He was like...a light in the darkness she was trapped in. He promised to help her and he left, returning with the keys to free her and her shackles. Even though they just met, she felt warm and comfortable in his presence, like she could trust him.
For the first time ever, she felt safe.
When the girl first saw the swordsman, she thought he was just another one of the Blood Fang crew members that she's never seen before. But she was proven wrong when he freed her, treated her kindly, and helped her up. At first, she was curious as to why she was blindfolded, but the strong scent of blood filled her nostrils, and she knew that the swordsman killed not only the rest of the Blood Fangs, but her master, the previous captain, as well.
The girl wasn't new to blood. After all, she often had blood seeping from her wounds and clothes, healed bloody wounds, and even sometimes saw the fights that pirates participated in that involved loads of bloodshed. The amount of blood shed hardly bothered her at this point. She never felt hatred towards the people that enslaved her, but she didn't feel any empathy or remorse for them, either.
After a while, the girl felt herself being picked up before placed in a rocky area. The blindfold was removed and her first sight was the same swordsman who freed her, though she could visibly see his green hair that was hidden by his bandana before. He ordered her to get some sleep, telling her he would return.
Trusting in his words, she laid down on the rocky area which she recognized as the swordsman's boat. Her body was physically exhausted and barely knew any rest during the long years she spent enslaved, which was why it didn't take long before she fell asleep and succumbed to the darkness.
The girl knew that the next time she awoke, her first sight would be her first light that saved her. She just didn't know how much of an impact he would have on her life and for the future to come.
So this kickstarts everything! When I start this series, I hope I don't make Zoro OOC or at least too OOC! Remember, this takes place around 1 year before joining Luffy's crew, so I'm so excited for this!
Read and review!