Chapter Text
Zoro scrubbed the last bit of armor that he needed to clean with a little less vigor than he should. He tossed that piece onto the pile of other moderately cleaned equipment with a sigh. Finally. he was done with the stupid task. He rolled his shoulders, relishing the relief that came with each crack he managed to get with the movement. As he was standing up, the door to the equipment room burst open.
“Boss!” Johnny shouted, tripping through the entrance, as behind him, Yosaku hurriedly attempted to enter as well. Zoro raised a brow at them as they began to tussle over the incident. He sighed, grabbing his sword where it rested on the wall and placing it against his hips. He ignored the two idiots as he headed out of the armory.
“Wait,” Yosaku said, midway from his head getting smashed to the ground by his longtime friend. “Boss, wait!” Zoro paused at the doorway.
“Don’t call me that. You’ll get in trouble again.” He said, holding back a sigh. Really, they never learned from their mistakes. And judging from the sound Yosaku’s head made when it met the ground, they weren’t going to learn anything for a while. He turned to look back at them as they scrambled back up to standing, their armor misplaced and hair a mess from the tussle.
“Bo- I mean, Z-Zoro…” Johnny stuttered, attempting to correct himself. Yosaku cut in, his hand slapping onto Johnny’s back, nearly toppling the other man over.
“Well, that bastard commander was trying to get you to be late to the Saintess Ceremony!” Yosaku shouted, his voice echoing down the halls. At this, Zoro took a quick glance down the hall, making sure the coast was clear to ensure no one heard the other man’s comment.
“Keep it down, Yosaku. I can hear you from here.” Zoro grumbled. Yosaku slapped a hand onto his mouth, and Johnny knocked his friend on the back of his head.
“We don’t have time to explain standing around here! We’ll let him know as we go over there!” Johnny said. Both of them scramble over to him at the doorway, stopping in front of him with an expectant look. Zoro rolled his eyes, walking out, the two quickly settling on either side of him. One of them shut the armory door before they left at least.
“So what’s this about a Saintess?” Zoro said, as they walked through the oddly empty halls. Probably, they all gathered to greet this supposedly important person the commander didn’t want him to meet. He probably did it as a means to not allow him to climb up the army ladder. Not that it mattered to him, because he didn’t really care where he stood in the army.
“A couple of months back, there were rumors of a woman that could tell the weather.” Johnny was all too happy to begin his gossiping. Yosaku, too joined in, well timed and probably rehearsed.
"And normally, that’s not that weird of a thing. Maybe she was just really lucky with her guesses.”
“Except!” Johnny said, excitedly bumping in to him, Yosaku, on his other side also doing the same as they herded him around a corner. He doesn’t comment on it, but let out a scowl. These bastards thought he was going to get lost. “Over the past two months, she’s accurately predicted the weather day after day, even telling of a tornado that touched down and exactly how long it would last and where it would go.” Zoro raised a brow at that.
“Okay, so they’ll probably bring her in to work with the agriculture group with that skill. What makes her a Saintess?” Zoro asked, clearly knowing the two were dying for him to ask even though it was an obvious question that anyone would have.
“Well, in fact, it seems like she might have the ability to control the weather, too!” Yosaku said, his eyes comically wide. Johnny nodded eagerly from the other side of him.
“There was an incident where people didn’t listen to her when she warned them of the tornado. So, they lost all their crops and home and barely escaped with their lives from the disaster. They were mad and wanted to blame the Saintess.” Zoro snorted at this. Of course, idiots were given a warning, and they didn’t listen, so they took their anger out when it actually happened on an innocent helper.
“But when they were attacking her and her family, despite the clear skies, lightning went and struck down on them before they could do anything severe.”
“Huh.” Zoro commented, idly.
“It wasn’t just once, too!” Johnny added, as Yosaku enacted by hit by lightning. Zoro snickered at his very convincing performance. “Nope, it was three or four times, even!”
“So, after that incident, they took the family and her to here for protection, and did a Haki test!” Zoro raised a brow at that. So the woman probably did subconsciously used her haki to summon lightning. That probably meant that she had high levels of haki if she was deemed a Saintess. Still, he played along as they neared the training ground. He could hear the commander’s voice, obnoxiously arrogant, through the doors, no doubt boosting about himself and his shitty army.
“What were the results?” Johnny and Yosaku grinned widely at his question, and Zoro hid a smile at that.
“Her haki was low actually!” Zoro raised a brow at that. So, she didn’t have high levels. “Instead, her haki fluctuated with the weather! They did the test three times. Once in cloudy weather, once in rainy weather, and once in sunny weather.” Zoro let out a whistle. Haki testing, in fact, was a lot of resources. The fact that they did the testing meant that they thought she was worth it.
“In the end, they found out that during bad weather, her haki levels went up astronomically! There are beliefs that if they teach her how to use her haki, she truly could control the weather.” Yosaku jumped in.
“Yep yep, so her official title is…” He paused for dramatic effect, making Zoro roll his eyes. “… The Saintess of the Skies.”
How fancy.
The two of them high five each other behind him, as they descended the stairs to exit towards the training grounds, chattering away about the Saintess and her potential that Zoro decided to tune out. The announcement of a new Saintess is a huge deal, though, which makes sense why the commander sent him in to do the shitty menial work, like shining all the damn, unused equipment in the armory. Considering the fact that the Saintess is one that could theoretically control the skies, not only was she going to be a benefit for the citizens that are going through heavy droughts, but she also had powers to dominate the battlefield. Of course, one of the few times that someone so low in the ladder like he was could only meet them during her introduction to the castle people.
But none of that really mattered to Zoro. So the Saintess was powerful and probably would be a huge asset to the country. That’s great for the country, and that also meant more lives would be saved in the long run. That also meant that Zoro really didn’t give a fuck about this Saintess, because they would probably never interact, and he had no intention to do so with her.
The commander stopped his long winding speech when he spotted him coming through the doors. His face morphed into a sneer, and probably began lecturing about him to the rest of the people on the training grounds.
He didn't hear a single bit of it. When Zoro looked up to study the Saintess, their eyes met. And suddenly, everything else around them faded away.
The noise that Johnny and Yosaku made beside him, as they hid behind him while probably cursing the commander, the commander himself yelling at him, the intensity of his glare thinning out of existence, and even the feel of his sword against his hip disappeared. Instead, images flickered through his eyes, like screenshots of a film, and sounds that he wouldn’t have ever heard in this lifetime followed them. The sound of Friday morning traffic, filled with the sounds of angry drivers relentlessly honking their horns and letting out swears of a different language out the windows of their vehicles, the reflection of the sun that came from the towering steel buildings that scraped the skies, far higher than even the walls of the castle, hitting him in the eyes, the sight of hundreds of people bustling about, some in uniforms, some in suits, some in casual wear, and all of those clothes made of synthetic material that probably doesn’t exist in the world he lived in now.
Beside him in these images, these memories, stood the Saintess. Though, she wasn’t a Saintess in that world. No, in that lifetime, she was his friend, an ally that he grew up with in the shitty foster care system, she was a thief and a liar and a greedy bitch that held her insecurities as tightly as she clung to her money. Someone that struggled through the shit that life handed with him, that shared her weaknesses with him and conned him out of his hard earned money at the same time, that she shared her secrets and her successes with, her tears and her laughter, his best friend and the only person he would have considered as family.
Nami.
And just like that, he was back to reality, his heart thudding heavily in his chest. He forced himself to relax, to seem normal, and seeing Nami in front of him again, the look of recognition flashing in her eyes, the slight tremble of her lips as they both came back to reality, it seemed that she remembered him too. It was only a couple of seconds where they looked at each other, but for them, it was an entire lifetime. Nami looked away first, turning to grab the commander that was still loudly shit talking him, effectively stopping the older man.
“You said I can choose anyone to be my guard?” Her voice still sounded the same as in the past. It’s clear and sharp, clearly grabbing the attention of all the men in the room, and perhaps even the women as well. The commander looked at her, clearly startled, but quickly put on a grimy smile.
“Why, yes, of course, Saintess, we-“
“Then that man, right there.” Nami pointed straight at him and when the commander met his eyes, the smile dropped, the color draining from his face.
“S-saintess! T-that man… he’s not a good pick. Ther-there are better options than-“ He stopped abruptly at the cold glare Nami sent his way.
“You said it was my choice. Are you saying that was wrong?” Nami said, her voice cold and threatening, brown eyes baring down on the older man, undoubtedly making the taller man feel small.
“N-no, of course not.” The commander said, through grit teeth. Nami turned away from the pathetic man and looked at him. Zoro held back a smirk, seeing the familiar gleam of achievement glimmering in the woman’s eyes that he was all too familiar with.
“Got any problems, soldier?” Nami said. And while she managed to hold a calm, serious expression on her face, Zoro knew her well enough to know she was struggling to hold back a grin. He bowed his head, dropping to his knee, hiding the smirk on his face because he knew for sure Nami had a better poker face than him.
“None, Saintess. Many thanks for your benevolence.”
"Good." He heard Nami say. "I'll thank you in advance for your services."
What are the odds that this would happen? Zoro couldn’t help but think. That they would meet again after death, and that meeting would spark these memories to come back. But, despite the happiness of meeting someone again that he held so dearly, remembering the lives of their past upon meeting wasn’t normal. They had to speak to one another. Alone. To speak about now, and of the far, far past. Their past lives to be exact.