A/N: I hope you like it :)


It was a sunny day when the Straw Hat pirates arrived on another island. There was almost never a peaceful day and a next adventure was always around the corner, but this time it seemed that the trouble had found them before even Luffy could find it himself. Surprisingly enough it wasn't their captain, who got them involved into someone else's problems, but Zoro.

They were just about to go to the small town, when Zoro saw a young woman surrounded by three men. At first it looked like they were just discussing something, but then one of the men drew a sword. To Zoro's surprise the woman did the same and the four began fighting. The woman held herself against them for a while and Zoro could see that she had some talent when it came to swordsmanship, but the men were more skilled in the end. Now Zoro wasn't one to interfere in a fight that had nothing to do with himself, but three against one wasn't fair. Without a second thought Zoro drew his own swords and approached the fight.

At first his friends thought that he was getting lost again, but then say saw what Zoro was seeing. They quickly followed the swordsman, but when they arrived the fight was already over. Zoro made sure to hurt the three men just enough to scare them off. He didn't know what this fight was about and without knowing that it wasn't his place to judge.

"Thank you so much." The woman spoke up for the first time. "These bandits have been harassing the villagers for a while now. I wanted to fight them, but I didn't stand a chance."

Zoro nodded in understanding and turned around to leave. To his surprise a soft hand held him back.

"Please take this money as a token of my gratitude." She hold out a small leather sack to him.

"You don't have to give me anything. I can't accept that."

This was the moment when Nami stepped closer to the two with a bright smile on her face. Without hesitation she slapped Zoro lightly on the back of his head.

"Don't be an idiot. It would be rude to reject such a generous offer." When Zoro looked irritated at her, she continued. "If you don't want the money, you can use it to finally pay back your debt to me."

"He has a debt to you?" The woman asked a little confused, looking at the small group.

"Yes, I lent him some money and he hasn't payed the interest yet."

"That's because you raise my debt whenever you want. You don't even know how much it is."

"Of course I do." Nami said confidently and told him a huge sum.

Before Zoro could argue more with her, the woman, who he had just saved, stepped between them.

"I might have a solution for this problem." Now everyone looked curiously at her. "I should introduce myself first. I'm Misaki the princess of this island. My father put me in charge of this kingdom. He also gave me this sword, but like you have probably seen I'm not very good with it. I would be willing to pay the debt you talk about if your swordsman would teach me how to use this weapon properly."

"I'm not a sensei." Zoro grunted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Deal." Nami smiled brightly, already shaking Misaki's hand in agreement.

While the rest of the crew watched the development with interest, Zoro was more than angry. However he was aware that arguing with Nami was pointless when it came to money. If she had already set her mind on doing something there was no turning back. Thinking more about it, he came to the conclusion that maybe it was good after all. When he was done teaching Misaki, Nami couldn't blackmail him with his debt anymore. Sighing he shook his head, it seemed like he had no choice in that matter.

"Of course the rest of you can also stay at the palace." Misaki offered with a smile.

"Is there meat?" Luffy asked excited.

"Yes." Misaki looked a little confused at him.

"Then we're staying for a while." Luffy smiled brightly.

While they made their way to the palace, Zoro followed the group with a frown on his face. Nami saw that and couldn't help but tease him a little more about it.

"Look at the bright side. You won't have a debt to me anymore."

"That is good for you, but I wasn't bothered by my debt."

"Of course you weren't, but now I can get so much money." Nami smiled.

"Greedy woman." Zoro mumbled, still annoyed. However if he was honest with himself, he had missed their bickering during the two years that the crew had been apart. Nami and him had always had some kind of friendship that was different. They fought a lot, but then again there was no one who he rather drank with. Most of the time they were the last two who hadn't passed out at the Straw Hats victory parties and he had to admit that he liked her company. During those nights he found himself talking to her about a lot of things that he normally didn't talk about and sometimes he even just enjoyed spending time with her. Zoro was pulled out of his thoughts when Nami spoke up again.

"I'm sure that you'll be a good sensei."

Despite that she had said it in a teasing way Nami actually meant it. She knew that Zoro wasn't the most social person, but she had a feeling that he could be a great sensei. He had the skills and the dedication to swordsmanship to teach someone how to become a great swordsman. However when she heard his next words, she couldn't keep her eyes from widening in surprise.

"It wouldn't be the first time." At her questioning glance he continued. "I taught a few kids at my sensei's dojo."

Back when he was training at the dojo his sensei had asked him to take one of his classes because he was ill. Not one to deny his sensei and Kuina's father this request, Zoro had taught the smaller kids a few things. Back then he hadn't been happy about it, but he had respected their wish to become swordsmen themselves so it hadn't totally annoyed him. However he didn't know how it would be like to teach a princess. It wasn't the fact that she was a woman, because he knew firsthand that women could be just as strong as men, but because she was nobility. Was she really willing to learn more about swordsmanship or was it just something she wasn't serious about? Shaking his head, Zoro decided that he would see for himself how this would turn out.

Nami was in deep thoughts as well. While she had already thought that he could be a good sensei, she was still surprised that he had taught someone before. This just proved that there were still so many things that she didn't know about Zoro even after traveling with him for so long.

Since the Straw Hats had reunited she often found herself thinking about him. It wasn't like she hadn't missed the others, but she had to admit that she had missed him the most. However she wasn't about to interpret too much into it. They were friends, so it wasn't too unusual to miss him and the lingering attraction between them was surely just that. Ignoring the feeling, that she was telling herself that so she didn't have to think about what she might be feeling for the swordsman, Nami concentrated back on the palace which they were about to enter.

The whole building was huge and Nami wasn't surprised that there were even servants. What did surprise her was that Misaki showed them around herself and didn't just ask one of the servants to do it. It seemed like she wasn't even comfortable that other people wanted to do things for her and Nami asked herself how Misaki had even gotten into the position of having to rule a whole kingdom.

Later at the dinning table the crew finally got to know more about the island and Misaki's past.

"So for how long have you been ruling this kingdom?" It was Robin who finally asked, seeing that their captain wasn't about to say anything because his mouth was full of meat.

"For two weeks. My brother was meant to be king one day, but then everything changed and I didn't have a choice but to accept the crown."

"Why do you want to learn about swordsmanship?" It was rare that Zoro spoke up, but this time he was interested in knowing. A few hours ago when she had fought against these three men, he had seen potential in her fighting. However if there wasn't a strong will to accomplish whatever it took to get better, teaching her would be pointless.

"My father gave me this sword and I made a promise to him to protect our kingdom with it. I want to keep my promise." Misaki explained.

Despite that Zoro only nodded at her before taking a gulp of the sake in front of him, Misaki felt like he could understand her intentions, so she gave him a small smile in return. The people in front of her were really strange and of course had she seen that their ship had a Jolly Roger, but somehow she felt like she could trust them.

Nami had watched the interaction between the princess and Zoro closely. Up until this point Zoro had still been annoyed that he should be a sensei, but it seemed that after hearing this he had changed his mind. His whole demeanor was different and even the small nod that he had given in understanding signalized acceptance. The navigator knew that Zoro valued promises and he was without a doubt a very honorable man when it came to this, but she couldn't help but wonder if there was more to it.


A/N: Please review and tell me what you think :)