Everyday life with the Straw Hats
Chapter 3: Honor Of The Sword
It was early morning the next day, and everybody except for Zoro was still asleep. The previous evening was enjoyable, they played board games, watched some movies, and Miia never left Luffy's side the entire time, always keeping him in arms reach. "She really took a liking to Luffy" Zoro thought to himself as he walked down streets of the city, with the cool morning air hitting his face. Zoro decided to take a seat on a nearby bench and take a drink of his early morning booze, and appreciate the peaceful morning. However, after a few minutes of relaxing on the city bench, someone who was busy reading a book while they were walking accidentally bumped into Zoro, which made him spill his alcohol on his shoes. The person who was reading their book looked up to quickly apologize.
"I'm so sorry sir, I should have paid better attention where I was going." The person said.
Zoro looked up to see women with long blonde hair in a ponytail, and had pointed ears that were covered in brown fur. Then, of course, he noticed the rest of her body, she was a centaur; a race that has the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse.
"I'm truly sorry, usually I wouldn't be so careless." The centaur continued, clearly trying to convince Zoro for forgiveness.
Zoro gave a low sigh and grabbed his sake bottle, "Its fine, don't worry about it," he said, "these things happen here and there, no reason to be that upset about it. But I do appreciate the apology, whenever someone spills my drink, they usually just shrug and give a half-attempt 'sorry' or 'my bad' and then walk off. I appreciate that you at least care enough."
"Perhaps I can treat you to another bottle sometime" Centorea offered.
Zoro smiled at that. "I'll take you up on that offer." He stuck out his hand and said "My name is Roronoa Zoro, what's yours?"
The centaur girl stood there shyly for a moment, clearly caught off guard by Zoro's sudden attempt at making hand contact, even if it was just a handshake. The girl smiled, there was a small blush to her cheeks, she grabbed Zoro's hand and gave him a gentle handshake. She said "my name is Centorea Shianus, it is a pleasure to meet you Roronoa Zoro."
Zoro gave her a light grin, amused by the formality. "You can just call me Zoro, everyone else does."
Centorea smiled back, "Very well…Zoro." She paused for a moment, unsure of what to say next, there was something she clearly wanted to say, but unsure on how to go about it. She took a breath, then added, "I've been studying…that in some cultures, people that come across each other in situations like these…they are destined to be soulmates." She was blushing quite red. Zoro had a confused look on his face.
"Where did you hear that?" he asked, still bewildered at what culture would follow such a tradition.
She held out the book she was reading, it was romance light novel. Centorea continued to explain her reasoning. "In this novel, a young man and women meet each other while walking through the city, they first start out as friends, but then eventually become romantically interested in one another, and one thing leads to the next." She was still blushing quite a lot. "Clearly this novel must be based on some aspects of human culture, so I curious if this aspect of the story holds true."
Zoro let out a small laugh, "You don't have to worry about that, it's a fictional novel. I wouldn't say its impossible for two people who meet each other by accident to form a romantic relationship, but its not as common as many love stories make it out to be."
"I see…" Centorea replied. she was pondering the information zoro provided, then came a conclusion. "so this novel, and what it says about human culture, is only partially true, and the rest is an exaggeration of the truth?" she finished.
Zoro gave a small shrug and replied, "I guess you could say that, but most people don't read stories for how factual they are, my friend robin enjoys all types of stories, whether the books are fact or fiction."
Centorea smiled, "I'm glad to hear that, I rather prefer the fictional stories myself anyway. Especially Fantasy"
Zoro looked at his watch and saw that it was around the time when everyone else would be getting out of bed. "If you want, you could meet my friends, I think you and my friend Robin would enjoy talking about different types of books." Zoro offered.
Centorea looked quite happy at Zoro's offer to come visit him at his house and meet his friends. "I would very much enjoy that." She said, it was easy to hear the excitement in her voice, even if she was trying to hold it back.
Suddenly, a man wearing a leather jacket and riding a motorcycle came zooming down the street, a shopkeeper came running down the street, panting and out of breath. He turned to Zoro and Centorea and said in between pants "That guy on the motorcycle stole the money from my shop, can you please stop him for me? I'm desperate!"
Centorea removed an iron sword from a sword holster she had around her human waist. "Of course I will help you, it is my duty as a noble centaur to help those who can't help themselves against the forces of injustice!" she turned to Zoro and said, "Will you help me Zoro? Because I came to this city as a member who signed up for the cultural exchange program, I can't go too far away from the cultural exchange office building without a human to accompany me. Without you, I can't go any further than this street block by myself."
Zoro took his bandanna and tied it around his forehead and smirked. "I don't mind, let's go catch that thief!"
Centorea smiled, but then she told Zoro in a somewhat nervous tone, "However, I can't allow you to ride on my back. You see…in my culture, that is a privilege only given to someone I choose to be my master. In centaur culture, in very similar to marriage." She was blushing, but explained that he would have to find another way to keep up with her if they were going to catch that thief in time.
The shopkeeper grabbed a bicycle he had in front of his store and told Zoro he could use it. "this is what my employee uses to deliver orders to our customers, he had the day off today, so you can use it. I would use it myself to catch the thief, but I'm not as physically fit as I used to be."
Zoro got on the bike, and in a matter of minutes, Zoro and Centorea where off to catch that thief.
Zoro and Centorea were heading after the thief on the motorcycle, the motorcycle must have had an oil leak, because there was oil trail the motorcycle left behind, which made it very easy for Zoro and Centorea to follow him. Eventually, they saw him in the distance.
"Over there! I see him!" Centorea pointed out.
The thief was off his motorcycle, and was ordering some food from a hot dog stand, as he started to eat it, he looked over and saw Zoro and Centorea coming right towards him. He spat out his chewed food and screamed as he started to make a run for it with the money bag in one hand. "Shit! They're after me! All I wanted was some money, if I knew that shopkeeper had a horsewomen working for him, I would have robbed somewhere else!" he ran behind the hot dog stand, asking the guy who was selling the hot dogs to try and reason with them. "please man, you gotta help me! Try reasoning with them. After all, I just bought one of your hot dogs, it's the least you can do!"
The hot dog guy clearly did not want to get involved with this, but asked anyway. "excuse me! But what did this man do? Lets try to handle this peacefully if possible." The hot dog guy said, clearly nervous as he lowered himself behind the hot dog stand.
Centorea answered with stern look on her face, pointing her finger at the thief. "he stole money from a local shop! And he tried to get away by motorcycle!"
The hot dog guy looked even more scared now, he turned to the thief with a look of complete fear. "WHAT! I don't want anything to do with this! Please don't steal my money too!" the hot dog guy said with a trembling voice.
The thief quickly tried to act all sympathetic, he even was using the puppy dog eyes. "Please help me, mister hot dog guy, I know you will do the right thing. Remember, I bought one of your hot dogs."
"BUYING A DAMN HOT DOG IS HARDLY ENOUGH TO MAKE ME HELP A CRIMINAL!" the hot dog guy shouted. He then ran away, down the street calling for help.
Zoro watched the hot dog guy run away, flailing his arms in the air like a madman as he cried for the police. "What a coward, he probably doesn't even know where the police station is." Zoro grumbled to himself. "I hate it when people can't remember simple directions, it's not that damn hard." Zoro thought to himself, shaking his head annoyance.
The thief Was now trying to reason with Centorea. "I know! Lets make a deal, you leave me alone, and I use some of my money to buy you a saddle. I know horses love saddles!" the thief said in a desperate attempt to reason with Centorea, he was even trying to act cool and convincing.
Centorea's eyes stared straight into his, her eyes narrowed and became quite fierce. "What…did you say?" she said, she began to clench one of her fists. "Did you say…a saddle?" she started to grind her teeth together in anger.
Zoro had a look on his face, the kind of look someone has when they're thinking "Oh boy, shits about to go down."
Centorea clenched her hand around her sword even tighter, and shouted. "HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME IN SUCH A WAY! I AM NO 'HORSE'!" she slashed her sword in the air, trying to scare the thief and make him realize the mistake he just made.
He ran into an alleyway behind him. But there was a dead end.
Zoro and Centorea walking into the alleyway, Centorea still had the fierce look in her eyes.
The thief started to panic, but then he noticed there was a long, jagged piece of metal that he could use as a make-shift sword. He hid it behind his back, waiting for the moment to strike.
Zoro and Centorea were now only five feet away from the thief, unaware of the weapon he had behind his back.
Centorea started to slowly walk even closer. Still completely enraged by his insult. "I am a centaur! I am a part of a noble race, to compare me to just a simple horse is unforgivable! I must teach you some manners!" Centorea said with a heated tone.
Centorea was too angry to notice, but Zoro noticed the thief was slowly starting pull something out from behind his back. Waiting for Centorea to be in reach.
"TAKE THIS!" the thief shouted as he swung the sharp piece of metal downwards to her head. Suddenly, there was a clank of two piece of metal hitting each other.
All of a sudden, Zoro was blocking the overhead attack that was intended for Centorea with two of his own swords.
"How dare you…" Zoro said in anger, "Attack someone who wasn't readily prepared. You chose the wrong day to wield a weapon, even if it is just scrap metal." Zoro's open eye narrowed in anger. "you just pissed off the wrong swordsmen."
The thief was frightened and taken off guard, but then he thought that Zoro was bluffing. "nice try, but you wouldn't dare…" the thief said arrogantly. "You act like you are hot shit, but I can see you lost an eye, no one who is truly skilled would receive such an easy injury."
Zoro gave him an intimidating smirk, "I could show you what my injured eye looks like, but I wouldn't waste showing it on a piece of shit like you." Zoro growled. Zoro pushed back the jagged scrap metal back and quickly cut the rusty metal weapon in to several smaller pieces while the scrap metal was still in the air.
The thief looked completely shocked, and scared at the same time. He fell on his knees, and begged for mercy.
Zoro just looked at the pitiful thief and let out a sigh. "you really are pathetic, I will let you off the hook, but first you have to apologize to Centorea." Zoro stated.
"I'M SO SORRY! I'LL NEVER SAY ANYTHING INSULTING AGAIN OR STEAL ANYTHING AGAIN! I PROMISE!" the thief shouted while crying like the little wimp he was.
Suddenly. They all heard a voice from behind them. "That's enough, I'll take it from here." The voice said.
Zoro and Centorea turned around to see Ms. Smith standing there with handcuffs in one hand.
"I was in the area when some hot dog vendor came running up to me telling me about some thief in this location." Ms. Smith smiled and told Zoro and Centorea that they could go if they wanted, and that she would take this thief to the local jail.
Zoro and Centorea started to walk back to the house where the straw hats were living, just like they originally planned before the thief came driving past them on the motorcycle.
Centorea was starting to blush, "you know Zoro, what you did back there, jumping in between me and the blade to block with your swords was really brave." She said, her blushing cheeks becoming more red.
Zoro scratched the back of his head, kind of embarrassed by the sudden thanks. "I-it's no problem, it wasn't that big a deal, no need to thank me." He said, starting to feel awkward at the situation.
"That's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me, no one has ever risked their life for me." Said Centorea.
"I appreciate the thanks, but it no problem, really, I wasn't even hurt." Zoro replied.
"But it was the thought that counts, you were not hurt, but you were willing to take the risk for me. And, I feel like, I finally know who I want to be my 'partner'." said Centorea. Her blushing becoming an incredibly bright red.
Zoro quirked an eyebrow, "Who would that be?" he asked.
"…You." Centorea said, putting her hands on her cheeks trying to hide the blushing. "A-And, I was wondering, could you call me 'Cerea', that's what all my closest friends call me."
Zoro's cheeks started to turn a light red, not nearly as bright a red as Cerea's cheeks. "Um, okay…Cerea."
"Thank you." Cerea replied, then she thought to herself, "I know he is the right choice, I'm so glad I was able to meet you today…Master."
Zoro and Centorea arrived back at the house. To Zoro's surprise, everybody was already up and about, and it looked like Sanji was about to prepare breakfast.
"Huh, I didn't think you'd already be up, considering how much of a lazy ass you are." Zoro said towards Sanji. "I thought you'd still be in bed spooning your body pillows." Zoro added with cunning grin on his face.
"OF COURSE I'M UP MOSS HEAD! IF IT WASN'T FOR ME, YOU'D STARVED TO DEATH BACK IN EAST BLUE!" Sanji roared back at his rival. "And I'm pretty confident you'd be eating rocks and dirt for dinner if it wasn't for me!" Sanji finished with his curly eye brows on edge with anger.
"Wait a minute? We could have been eating rocks and dirt? Awesome!" Luffy said from across the room while sitting on the couch next to Miia, with her tail tightly wrapped around him while smothering him with affection.
"I don't know if that sounds that tasty to be quite honest, darling" Miia said to Luffy. "On the other hand, eggs would be a great meal!" just the thought of eggs made Miia smile.
"Pardon me Master. But did he just say you came from the East Blue? I've heard stories of the 4 blue oceans." Centorea asked Zoro with a look of curiosity.
Zoro smiled back at her, "Yeah, that's where I met these people, well, most of them anyway." Zoro's face then turned to one of disgust when he looked back at Sanji. "And that's where we met this half-ass chef. You see Cerea, we found him at a floating restaurant, and he was so pathetic and worthless that we let him join our crew out of pity. In fact, we constantly tell him his food is delicious just to let him feel good about himself, but in reality, it tastes like hell."
Centorea raised her index finger to her chin with a thought-provoked look on her face. "I see, well I appreciate your willingness to tell me so Master."
"Now look what you did! You made her think my food is nasty!" Sanji cried out in rage.
Sanji and Zoro started fighting again when suddenly there was a knock at the door.
Brook went to go answer the door, it was Miss Smith.
"Hello everyone and good morning, can I have some coffee before we start?"
Robin spoke up and asked "Start what?"
Miss Smith already was in the kitchen preparing her drink and replied "Miia's and Centorea's paperwork of course, once that is filled out, they will officially be living here as home stay guests."
Everybody had a confused look on their face. Especially Cerea
"I-I can stay here?" Cerea asked in a mixed tone of excitement and confusion.
Miss Smith just smiled and said "That's what the paperwork is for."