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A volley of small blades hit the rock right in front of Zoro. He ducked, drawing a sword and ready to fight back, but the next attack didn’t come.
“Don’t you know the rules?” A metallic voice, echoing between the stones, came from all directions at once.
Looked like the attacker was willing to talk first.
“Eh, no? I don’t know the rules.” Zoro peered into the dark, searching for some signs that he might have missed. “Have I trespassed onto something? Is this some kind of a sacred cave?”
“This is not a sacred cave; this is my cave.”
“Oh. Sorry I came in uninvited. I mean no harm. I was just... rambling.”
“Rambling? Haven’t you come to trade with me?”
“No. And who are you? What do you trade?”
A long hissing sigh echoed through the cave.
“I am the Hermit of Keg island. Sometimes people come here to trade with me. Usually, they know the rules.”
The voice sounded tired and annoyed, but not aggressive.
Zoro kept his sword up, but let himself relax a little and straightened his back.
“We are new here, just came from the East Blue. Didn’t know it was your island. We need to get some fresh water and maybe hunt a little.”
“You can take the water, but don’t hunt. Only I hunt here. If you want to trade, follow the rules.”
“All right. And what are the rules?”
“To trade with me, you go to the gray rock with the sun painted on it. The wares that I offer are there in the crates. You take what you need. Then you lay out what you offer me back. If I like the deal, I let you leave. If I don’t –” A few more blades hit the rock around Zoro, close but not too close, a mere warning. “– if I don’t like it, I let you know.”
“You don’t want to show yourself, right?”
“I’m a hermit.”
“I see. And where is that rock with the sun?”
“Get out of the cave and go left, you’ll see it in a minute. It’s big.”
“Good.”
Zoro sheathed his sword, dusted shards of stone off himself and climbed back into the open to look for that trading rock.
“To the left! Left, not right!” Angry metallic hissing followed him out of the cave.
“I get it, left!”
The rock truly was big and hard not to notice. A crude sun symbol was painted in rusty brown on its flat side. By the rock there was a simple thatched shade and a few old wooden crates beneath it. Alert and ready to draw his swords at any moment, Zoro came up to the crates and scouted what was inside. It looked like the things a hermit could trade – dried herbs and berries, animal skins, slices of dried or smoked fish and meat.
The meat looked nice and smelled good. Luffy was going to like it.
“Ehm.” Zoro looked around, wondering if the hermit was not too far away and willing to answer. “I could take the meat, but I don’t know what to offer you back. What do you like?”
Silence.
Zoro searched through his pockets. A box of matches, a small knife, some hard candy. Not likely to be enough. He shook his head and got an idea.
“The only valuables I have on me are the earrings. Would you like to get three golden earrings in exchange for the meat?”
From behind the rock came a laugh. “Do you think a hermit on an island would have any use for golden earrings?”
Outside of the cave the hermit’s voice sounded more normal and hardly scary. It still had a metallic tinge to it, but now it was softer and somewhat… girlish? And the laugh sounded like a girl’s laugh.
“You are right,” said Zoro after a second. “The earrings are useless. Listen, can I bring more people here? Sanji is our cook, he can take a look at the berries and herbs, and Nami should know what to offer you back. She is a girl… like you.”
The hermit hissed. “It doesn’t matter if I am a man or a woman. I am the Hermit of Keg Island.”
“Got it! So, can they come?”
“Yes, you can bring more people if you want. You can bring two, or three, or ten, or thirty. If they try to attack me, I can kill them all.”
With a whistle, a swarm of small blades came raining around Zoro, hitting the ground, the rocks, and the trees. It stopped abruptly, and the blades were left jutting out of every surface, reflecting the bright morning sun. This time, Zoro hadn’t ducked or grabbed his swords. He stood straight and motionless, and he wished that he could add “unflinching,” but he had flinched a few times.
*****
At last, she had to accept it. When the party came up to the rock and the girl very distinctly said, “Oh, sheesh! Never thought that Zoro would be the first to find food, but here it is!”
“That was purely by accident, I’m sure,” said the other guy in the party, the one who was probably the cook.
“Oh, shut up, you two,” said… Zoro.
Kuina let her herself slump down to the ground and covered her face with her hands.
She had spent the last two hours trying very, very hard to put two and two together and get a five.
After all, how easy was it for Wado Ichimonji to end up in the hands of a completely random guy from the East Blue, who was the right age, the right build, the right level of dumb, and even still dyed his hair green?
The world was playing a cruel game with her.
Kuina might have covered her eyes, but she could still hear the trading party speak.
The cook guy was commenting on the wares, trying to sound polite and friendly.
“There is plenty of nice things here. I love the dried berries. Wild raspberries and strawberries, just perfect! The smell is divine!”
“Yes, they smell good,” said the girl.
“Give me a few hours, and I’ll whip up amazing tarts with them! The best of the best! As for the black ones, I’m afraid I’m not familiar with them.”
The cook went silent, clearly hoping to hear something from Kuina. After a long moment, she gave in and uttered, “Those berries don’t grow in the East Blue. They call it Midnight Berry here. They are not poisonous, but they are bitter and don’t taste very good. Make a good dye though, deep purple.”
“Thanks for the information!” said the cook with audible joy. “I could take a little, see if I can make something out of them.”
“Are you from the East Blue, too?” asked the girl.
Kuina didn’t answer. That girl was a quick one, had to be careful around her.
“I have my own stock of herbs on the ship,” the cook went on, “but I’ll take some of the sage, and shiso, and… is this ginseng?”
“Yes, it is. Take it, it makes nice tea. The herb with the small yellow flowers doesn’t grow in the East Blue either. You can try it, it’s good for treating cold. The long dark green roots too, they taste good in broths.”
“Thank you for your kind advice! I’ll take a bit of both. Now the fish, I have to say we don’t really need it, we catch our own, but the meat, ah! is that rabbit and wild pig?”
“Yes, those two are the only game on the island.”
“Good! We’ll take all the meat, if you don’t mind.”
“As long as you offer a fair deal.”
“Right,” said the girl. “We’ve brought you some of the food stock we have, that is wheat flower, rice and cooking oil. And we’ve brought a warm woolen blanket and some cotton cloth. Then, some soap and painkillers.”
“Besides, we offer your a cast iron cooking pot and steel kitchen knives,” added the cook with gravity.
Kuina broke into a laugh. “That is all good, except for the knives. Keep them, I have plenty of my own.”
“Yeah, should have figured it out,” said the girl. “Would you like to take a look? We can go away for a few minutes, if you don’t wish to be seen.”
“No. I’m fine. Just take what you’ve picked and leave. I don’t appreciate it when people stick around on my island.”
“Ah, miss, er, Hermit,” started the cook in a suave voice. “I just thought… I’m going to make such fine tarts with the berries that you’ve picked, wouldn’t it be a shame if you don’t get to try them yourself?”
“Damn, Sanji, I’ve told you...” Zoro, who had been silent through the whole conversation, finally let his voice be heard.
“It’s just a polite offer, nothing more!” protested the cook. “Madam, if you let us stay on the island till evening, we can bring you a few tarts and leave them here. No trouble for you at all! Why can’t a lovely lady be treated to a bit of…”
Judging by the sound of it, Zoro smacked the cook on the head.
Kuina stifled a bitter laugh, picked herself up and took her usual spot behind the rock that let her see the guests without being seen.
The three, two guys and a girl with orange hair, were roughly the same age, all of them fit and good-looking. Their offerings were laid out neatly by the crates, and they were quite generous. The sacks of flower and rice were large and full, the pot looked polished new.
In a sudden fit of distress, Kuina turned and rushed away into the woods, away from those people, away from their talk, away from the “You see, she didn’t say no”, so it’s all working out!”
*****
Keg Island was mostly tall rock facing the sea, with only one little bay fit to anchor and disembark. Kuina could avoid that spot till the visitors dropped their tarts and left for good. She didn’t have to see those people and their ship ever again. It was a pirate ship, by the way, an odd-looking Jolly Roger painted over the main sail.
Kuina was used to seeing pirates around, after all, she was close to the entrance into the Grand Line. Most of them traded just as well as the locals, and if some rowdy crews tried to rob or capture her, she had a way to discourage them from that kind of behavior.
Come to think of it, it was well expected for Zoro to arrive one day with a pirate crew seeking early and glorious death on the Grand Line. If he still wanted to become the World’s Greatest Swordsman, the Grand Line was the place to seek out and challenge all the best fighters.
Kuina had even traded with Dracule Mihawk once. Three years prior, he took all of her Midnight Berry stock and some rabbit skins, and left a couple of bottles of good wine. He must have remembered the previous Hermit, who, unlike Kuina, used to appreciate quality alcohol. Those bottles were still sitting in Kuina’s cave, probably getting better with each passing year.
Kuina wandered through the woods for the great part of the day, and towards dusk her feet carried her back to her cave. The goods that the pirates had left her were still sitting by the rock, and small blades were still littering the place.
There had been no need to unleash Crow’s Feathers technique on Zoro; she had done it under the influence of a petty desire to show off. He took it well, by the way. And now she had a few dozens of small blades to manually pick up and put back where they belonged.
She was done and ready to retreat into her cave for the night when a small flickering light appeared in the distance.
Kuina quietly moved to her usual spot. There was a party of three guys coming, and she recognized only one of them, the cook guy. He was carrying a large plate covered with a piece of white cloth. Another guy in a tricorn hat was carrying a torch; the third one, with a straw hat on his head, seemed the youngest and the smallest of them all.
The cook carefully placed the plate on top of one of the crates. The other two guys huddled together, the Tricorn Hat was cautiously glancing around as if he expected to be attacked at any moment, and the youngest one was looking at the old Sun symbol on the rock with a goofy smile.
“You are here, I can sense it,” the young one said to the rock. “Let me introduce myself, I’m Monkey D. Luffy, and I’m going to become King of the Pirates.”
“Right, he’s our captain,” said the cook, who didn’t seem so sure that they were not talking to the air.
Kuina would have never placed that youngster as the captain.
“I don’t know who you are and why you choose to live alone on this island,” the boy went on, “you must have you reasons, I’m sure, but from what I’ve heard it sounds like you are a decent person, and a good fighter. So I say, would you like to join my crew?”
That was unexpected.
“We are not a large crew yet, you’ve seen us all today. We have an excellent navigator, an amazing cook, a great sharpshooter, and the World’s Greatest Swordsman in the making. And one day we are going to get the One Piece.” The boy beamed, as if he was very satisfied with his own speech.
Kuina bit her tongue before she could say something sarcastic. If she stayed quiet, they were more likely to leave soon. But the captain boy was not done talking yet.
“We all have our dreams, and we’ve come here to make them come true. What about you? Do you have a dream? Even if it seems impossible, with a good crew by you side, anything can be…”
“I don’t,” said Kuina. “All my dreams have already been fulfilled. I have nothing else to dream of.”
The Tricorn Hat cleared his throat. “By the sound of her voice, the Lady is not very happy with us.”
“She hasn’t tried my berry tarts yet!” said the cook. “I dare say, when she takes a little bite, she will be much easier to persuade, and maybe she will gain a new dream or two.”
“Eeehhh,” said the Tricorn Hat, who looked very uncomfortable.
“Sanji is right,” said the captain. “You can have more dreams. You don’t have to, but you can. I haven’t come to trouble you. I’m just offering you some good company, great food, adventure, and a place on the crew of the future Pirate King!”
That was an odd scene, the cook and the captain were both beaming in Kuina’s general direction, while the Tricorn Hat was oozing skepticism.
“Thanks for the offer,” she said. “But I won’t go with you.”
“That’s fine,” said the captain, unfazed. “We wish you all the best! Maybe one day you’ll get a new dream and we’ll meet again!”
The guys turned to leave, and Kuina’s insides gave an unpleasant twist.
“You can stay on the island till dawn,” she called in a sudden fit of goodwill. The company halted.
“And if you need that plate back in the morning, send you swordsman,” she added. “At least he doesn’t talk as much as the rest of you.”
The cook visibly deflated and muttered something under his breath.
“All right!” said the captain. “We’ll send Zoro to you in the morning. You know, you can make very good friends! He spoke very highly of your fighting skills!”
“Let’s hope he’ll manage to find the way,” said the cook. “By the way, would you mind if I send breakfast to you? What would you say to a bowl of sweet vanilla porridge?”
*****
“You haven’t eaten anything,” said Zoro, lifting the white cloth and looking at the untouched tarts. The morning sun was shining on his earrings and on the brass cooking pot he had brought along.
“I wasn’t hungry,” said Kuina.
“Serves that cook right.” Zoro put the cloth back and looked around, scanning the spots where the small blades had been, now clean. “I could take all the food back to the ship, would love to make the cook mad, but… you sure you want to say no to extra nourishment? I know, getting normal food may be tough when you are alone in the wild.”
“Thank you for caring about me. But I don’t need it. Take it all and be gone.”
“Uhm…“ Zoro stood motionless for a couple of minutes, staring into the distance, where the sliver of the sea could be seen behind the trees. Then he put the brass pot on the crate right next to the tarts and turned to leave.
“I wish you good luck on your quest,” said Kuina. She shouldn’t have. A voice can be a cruel traitor, and she had forgotten it over the years of barely ever speaking to anyone.
Zoro stopped, kicked the ground and sighed. “I know he sounds like nonsense at first. Luffy, I mean. Like he is out of his mind. But he is a good captain. We wouldn’t have made it to the Grand Line if he wasn’t. He saved my life a few times.”
“How?” Another mistake. How can a voice betray you over a single short syllable?
Zoro shrugged. “Those are long stories. I’ve got a few scars to show for them.”
“Can you show me?” Kuina whispered, which only made things worse.
Zoro turned around, frowned, blinked a few times, then went for the laces that held together his dark gray shirt. There was a freshly healed scar, huge, running all the way across his torso from shoulder to hip.
“What did that?” Kuina didn’t care about her voice any more.
“A big sword.” Zoro, stiff as a board, was tugging his shirt closed. “Called Yoru.”
“You idiot! You fought Dracule Mihawk?!”
“I-”
“How did you fucking get to fight Dracule Mihawk? Yoru can cut through mountains! What did you put against it? Wado Ichimonji? Two blades? Three blades? Your own body? Have you ever learned anything?”
“Wado went into the mouth, and…” Zoro froze, eyes wide. “Do you know me? Have we met before?”
Kuina bit her tongue and stepped back deeper, deeper into the shade that hid her. Zoro left his shirt alone and took a few steps towards the rock.
“Stop!” Kuina called forth all that metal in her voice that had always scared trespassers so well. “Stop! Not a step further. Or I’ll run underground and you’ll never find me.”
“Wait!” Zoro raised his open palms, breathing hard. “Wait, don’t run! I’ll stop right here! Just tell me, where have we met? You know Wado Ichimonji. Did we go to the same dojo? We only ever had three girls, and one of them died…”
Kuina pressed her icy hand to her forehead. “Which one has died?”
“Kuina.”
She let her hand fall down, limp.
“So, they told you that Kuina had died?”
***
The Hermit girl was right there, behind the rock, but Zoro dared not make another step. Instead, he dropped to his knees. Awkwardly, hurting his left wrist which he used to break the fall. That pain felt good. Better than the pain in his chest.
“What can you tell me about Kuina?” he asked between heavy breaths.
“What have they told you?” the Hermit asked back.
“She went to see her grandparents in town. On the way back… there was an accident. Her horse stumbled on the cliffs.”
“I see. She did go to see her grandparents, that’s right. As for the accident… Do you know what a Devil Fruit is?”
“I do.”
“Kuina’s family had a Devil Fruit in their possession. A very powerful one. It was said that it can make its user infinitely stronger with the blade, but at a great price.”
“She never told me about it.”
“It was a family secret. Kuina was not supposed to know about it. She overheard a conversation once. Her family never intended to let anyone eat it. Kuina thought that they lacked ambition. And she was ready to pay the price.”
“Why? Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Because she needed it to keep beating you.” The voice cut like a rusty saw, but the cut was not aimed at Zoro.
He slumped down even further, clawing at the ground. “But she didn’t need it.”
“We are never going to find out. Kuina ate the Devil Fruit. It… didn’t go well.”
“What did it do to her?”
“Well… it hurt. She started sprouting blades out of her body. They almost killed her. They almost killed those who were trying to help her.”
“Fuck.” Zoro pounded the ground.
“That was the price. Kuina’s family in the East Blue didn’t know how to deal with Devil Fruit powers. So they sent her to her great-uncle. He is a Devil Fruit user, and he has been living in the Grand line for a long time. Kuina barely made it here. I have no memories of the journey.”
Something in Zoro’s chest snapped and his head started spinning.
“Did your… your uncle help you?” he asked weakly.
“Yes, he did. It got better, to a certain extent. I stopped hurting myself so much. But I was still dangerous to other people. My great-uncle’s fruit lets him shapeshift into a snake. He is not much of a fighter and couldn’t train me very well. And I looked like something out of a nightmare. People in the village were scared of me.”
“Idiots.”
“They had their reasons. This is the Grand Line. Even if I kept myself in check, rumors about a girl with such powers could draw some very nasty folk to the village.”
“Like Baroque Works?”
“Them, and others. So, when I was fifteen, I heard that the Hermit of Keg Island had died. You see, it’s kind of a long-standing tradition. A hermit always lives on this island; everyone knows it. And I decided that I’m going to be the new Hermit.”
“And your uncle let you?”
“He could not stop me. And that was a wise decision. Here, no one had to see me and be scared. I could train on my own. And if anyone wanted to try and capture me, I could go all out, no regrets.”
…
“Are you crying?” Kuina’s metallic voice sounded much closer. Maybe he was, the grass under his nose was looking blurry. Zoro blinked a few times, but it didn’t help.
“You can look at me, if you want to.”
Zoro took a deep breath and shifted his body to sit on his heels, like they used to at the dojo. Then raised his head.
The morning sun was right behind Kuina, shining into Zoro’s eyes, circling her with rainbows and halos. She was blinding, beautiful beyond words, and she had large steel wings behind her back.
“You’ve grown into a very fine young man, Zoro,” said Kuina after a long pause. “But you wasn’t such a crybaby before.”
She stepped towards him till she shielded him from the sun, and her felt a light touch of her hand on his temple, then her fingers wiping away his tears.
There were steel blades growing out of her arms, starting at her wrists and running up to her shoulders, where they merged into full-blown wings, sharp and magnificent.
Zoro wished he could say something meaningful. Hell, he would have gladly traded his own dumb tongue for the cook’s sleazy speeches right now. But moments passed by, and he couldn’t form a single word.
Kuina, smiling, drew her hand away from his face and took a few steps back.
“Please, stay.” Finally, he managed to say something. “I’ll die if I lose you again.”
Kuina stopped, frowning. “I didn’t realize…” She gave a shaky sigh. “I’m sorry. I never thought that they told you that I had died. I thought they told you that I got sick and had to be sent to my relatives.”
“If I had known that you were alive, I would have searched for you, and I would have found you.”
“Oh.” Kuina bit her lip. “I guess they didn’t want that. Didn’t want you to go chase me in the Grand Line. Or maybe they just… there was little hope that I would make it.”
“Don’t know what they were thinking.” At last, Zoro’s head stopped spinning and his chest felt free, with a rush of emotion running through him. “I’ve made the vow and –” He straightened up on his knees, put his hand on his heart and looked up at Kuina. “Now that I’ve found you, I Roronoa Zoro, vow to stay by your side till our promise is fulfilled, or my life ends.”
“No.” Kuina, shaking her head, took a few steps back. “No.” Abruptly, she turned and rushed back into the shade behind the rock.
If she had run him through with a thousand spears, it would have been kinder.
*****
Zoro had spent the day stuck in the same spot, still kneeling, and stubbornly refusing to move. Kuina had been going in wide circles around the rock, at intervals coming back to check on him from a distance, than walking away again, like a pendulum.
She should have tried to talk to him and send him away, but it felt like something hard got stuck in her throat, and she couldn’t trust her voice any more.
Towards dusk it became evident that he would leave that spot only if his crewmates bodily dragged him away. To Kuina’s dismay, said crewmates were showing little resolve to do that.
They came looking for Zoro at some point of the morning, found him in that state, and instead of taking him with them decided to make camp beside him.
Kuina hadn’t heard their conversation and how Zoro had explained the whole affair to his captain, but when she came to check on him around noon, the captain was sitting by Zoro’s side, helping himself to the bowl of porridge, and the Tricorn Hat guy was building a small campfire nearby.
The girl seemed to be the only reasonable one of them, it looked like she had tried to talk some sense into the guys, but failed, and in the end brought them a few blankets and let them be. The cook had brought at least three meals uphill before the sun set, sat by the campfire for some time, and in the end left, probably to provide company to the girl on the ship.
When the night fell dark and proper, with the cool night dew, there were three of them left, united in stupid stubbornness.
Zoro still managed to keep his back straight and his head high, and Kuina knew from experience of dojo punishments that by now that posture had to be pure torture on his muscles.
The captain draped himself all over Zoro’s back, no doubt, adding to his strain in a bizarre display of misguided warmth.
The Tricorn Hat sat by the fire, wrapped in a blanket and telling some never-ending story, often interrupting himself with big yawns.
Tired of walking, Kuina perched on a stone, rested her elbows on her knees and propped her head with her hands. She was used to sleeping in odd positions, and as she had closed her eyes, she opened them when it was well past midnight.
The guys’ campfire had turned into embers. The Tricorn Hat was snoring under a pile of blankets. The captain had gotten off Zoro’s back and was sleeping with his head against Zoro’s thigh, hugging his straw hat. Zoro was unchanged.
Kuina stood up and rubbed her stiff neck and shoulders, avoiding the blades as years of practice had taught her. The sky on the horizon was starting to turn the barest shade of gray, so it could count as morning. Kuina went to her cave to wash her face and do her morning routine, and when she came back to the rock, it was almost dawn.
The captain and the Tricorn Hat were still asleep, and Zoro was still upright, staring forward with the dead, unseeing stare. He was pale and overall looked like he belonged to the underworld more than to the world of the living.
By then Kuina had had enough.
“Are you trying to kill yourself?” She stepped into the open, her wings tightly folded behind her back.
Zoro started and slowly blinked a few times, focusing his eyes on her, then whispered, “No.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Waiting for you.” His voice cracked and he coughed.
“Like this?”
“Why… not…?”
Kuina groaned in frustration.
“Wow! Wow, wow, wow, wow!” came from under the blankets. “You are a thousand times more amazing than even I have imagined!”
The Tricorn Hat was sitting up, and the captain was shifting as well, murmuring something about bacon. Kuina almost fled, but made herself stay on the spot. They had to solve it now, before that oak-head gave himself a stroke or something.
She said, “I thought you all were going somewhere. To get the One Piece, I heard.”
“I’ve made a vow,” said Zoro, his voice slowly gaining strength. “Either you’ll go with us, or I’ll stay here as long as I have to.”
“Stay here till you die?”
“Or I become the World’s Greatest Swordsman.”
“Do you even hear what you are saying?” hissed Kuina. “Besides, don’t you owe something to your captain?”
“May I say that you are a truly, truly amazing woman?” said the captain, who had got himself seated beside Zoro and was looking up at Kuina with wide eyes.
Kuina shrugged her wings. “Do you need you swordsman on board or not?”
“I do, but I’m not going to force him. Besides, I’m sure we can figure it all out. And it will be much easier after breakfast…” The captain looked around, as if breakfast was hiding under the bushes.
“Wait a minute,” said the Tricorn Hat. “Do I understand it right, that one of you has to become the World’s Greatest Swordsman–”
“or woman,” added Kuina.
“or woman,” repeated the Tricorn Hat, “and till that moment you two are supposed to… what?”
“Have breakfast?” said the captain.
“Fight, and train, and…” started Zoro.
“You know,” said Kuina. “To all intents and purposes, I already am the World’s Greatest Swordswoman.”
“I can believe that!” said the captain.
“But, have you bested Dracule Mihawk?” asked Zoro warily.
“No. But if he wants to test himself against me, he can come at me and see how well he holds.”
Zoro’s gaze went completely blank; looked like the gears in his head had glitched.
“Well, that’s the attitude!” said the Tricorn Hat.
“You know, Mihawk has already tested himself against Zoro, and, well, Zoro lost,” said the captain with a sigh.
“I’ve heard about it,” said Kuina. “By the way, what did you do to buy Zoro’s life from him?”
“Oh, that was a massacre!” said the Tricorn Hat. “Blood was flying everywhere…”
“Heavens!” a breathy voice called from a distance. “Glorious heavens, I get it now! Zoro, forgive me if I have shown you little respect, that is the most appropriate thing a man can be doing right now.”
“Breakfast!” exclaimed the captain. Still sitting, he turned towards the approaching cook, stretched out his arm in a way no normal human being could and snatched a sandwich out of the cook’s woven basket.
“Are you a Devil Fruit user, too?” asked Kuina.
“My Lady, you deserve to be worshiped, just give me a minute to set breakfast, and…”
The girl, who was walking next to the cook, drove her elbow into his ribs. “We are very happy to see you. Though it looks like you all had a nasty night.”
“It was okay,” said the captain over a mouthful of sandwich.
“We were trying to help this couple of old friends resolve their misunderstandings,” said the Tricorn Hat.
Kuina, unthinking, had already made a couple of steps back. At that, Zoro snapped out of his reverie and raised a hand towards her. “Don’t go. Can you all shut up for a minute?”
“Yeah, we are scaring the Lady,” said the Tricorn Hat.
The whole company went quiet and stared at Kuina.
She cleared her throat and looked at the captain. “I asked, are you a Devil Fruit user, too?”
He nodded. “Ate a Gum-Gum Fruit years ago.” He locked his hands together and stretched his arms up into the air, swaying a little, like a tall pole.
“Any other Fruit users on your crew?”
“Nope, only me so far. And what kind of Fruit did you eat?”
“My grandparents called it the Cursed Blade Fruit.”
“That’s a cool name! Would you like to have breakfast with us?”
Kuina shifted on her feet. The cook and the girl had put down their food baskets and were starting to set scene for a picnic.
“On one condition,” said Kuina.
“What is it?”
She nodded at Zoro. “You make this one take a good rest.”
“You don’t hate me anymore?” asked Zoro.
Kuina groaned and covered her eyes. “Who said I ever hated you in the first place? I just… You idiot. Just get up already!”
“Do you accept my vow?” asked Zoro tentatively.
“I vow to stay by your side till you grow some common sense. That is, for an indefinite amount time. Is that good for you?”
“I guess…” said Zoro with some caution.
“Great! Zoro, you can get up now,” said the captain cheerfully, clapping him on his back.
“Honestly,” said Zoro. “I don’t think I can.”
*****
Zoro woke up in an oddly confined place, elaborate tapestries hanging all around him. He lay still for a minute, checking his body. Needed to work out those muscles, but otherwise he was good. He tugged at one of the hangings and it gave way, opening into a large dimly lit room. With a little groan, Zoro pulled himself up to take a good look at it.
That was an unusual room, very spacious, with stone walls and carpets on the floor. There was a large wooden desk in the middle, and around it a few bookcases and folding screens painted with trees and birds. A tiny creek was running by the farthest wall, making a soothing sound. Light was coming through a couple of narrow cracks in the ceiling.
Kuina was sitting on a low stool by the desk, wings tightly folded.
“Good evening,” she said. “Hope you slept well.”
“Is this your bed?” asked Zoro, dragging his feet down onto the floor.
“No. It’s not convenient for me. I sleep on the mats over the carpet.”
“I see. You have a really nice place here for a hermit.”
Kuina huffed, standing up. “Yes. A few generations of hermits have lived here. Some of them were clearly used to comfort, some of them were well educated and versed in arts.”
She took a tray with sandwiches and a water jug off the desk and carried it towards the bed. “Here,” she sat the tray by Zoro’s thigh. “Have these.”
“I could have come to the table myself,” said Zoro, taking the jug, a blessing for his parched throat.
“Could you?”
“With some determination.”
Kuina knocked her knuckles on his head lightly.
“Did you have breakfast with the crew?” he asked, remembering something from the morning. It was hazy, but not completely lost.
“Yes. Breakfast, then lunch and dinner.”
“Have I slept that long?”
“It’s almost sunset, but it’s good for you.”
“Did you get along with the crew?”
“They are an odd bunch, but one can get used to them.”
“Are you coming with us?”
“Maybe.” She sighed. “You sure you want to talk about it right now? Maybe eat and get washed first?”
“All right.”
There was a washing basin by the creek, hidden behind a screen painted with clouds. Kuina sent him there after he was done with the sandwiches. Someone had even fetched him a change of clothes from the ship.
“Who picked these?” asked Zoro, studying the clothes. “The shirt doesn’t match the trousers.”
“Since when do you care if the shirt and the trousers match?”
“Since I don’t have to wear dojo uniform anymore.”
“Who would have thought that you would grow into a fashionista.”
“Fine, whatever.” He put on what he was given, the old faded-blue shirt with the new shiny leather trousers, and walked out from behind the screen.
Kuina was making tea over a small coal stove.
“Honestly, I imagined your living conditions as much worse.”
“What’s wrong with the shirt and the trousers? They look great on you.”
“Thanks.”
Zoro walked over to the stove and sat on his heels beside it, facing Kuina. The tea smelled of herbs, and the stove was pleasantly warm. The light from the cracks in the ceiling had diminished, and the coals in the stove were lighting Kuina’s face and hands from below, soft orange. She handed him a simple clay cup with a little smile.
The tea tasted a lot like what they used to drink in their home town. He had almost forgotten the taste over the years.
He ran his thumb over the rim of the cup and gathered some courage to ask, “Were you mad with me because you had to eat that fruit because of me?”
“No. I didn’t eat it because of you. I would have eaten it even if I had never met you. If anything, I have my parents to blame. But even they mostly wanted me not to train so hard and stop obsessing over winning.”
“You had the right to train as much as you wanted and win as much as you could.”
“Your way of thinking is simple. That’s good for you, I guess.”
“That was more complicated for you?”
Kuina swayed her head and made no answer.
“I guess it’s easy for me to speak,” said Zoro. “I have never been tempted with such a fruit. And I have never been a girl.”
“Would you have eaten that fruit, given a chance?”
“As a child, no, I believed in my own strength. Now… still no. Mihawk could beat me without it, and one day I’ll beat him the same.”
“And if you won’t be able to beat him no matter how hard you train?”
“Then you’ll beat him.”
Kuina put her cup down and laughed. That laugh didn’t sound happy.
“We could duel each other first. See how strong we can get,” offered Zoro.
“No.” Kuina shook her head. “I’m not going to duel you. I’m not going to duel anyone at all.”
“Why?”
“At first, when this power was new to me, I decided to stop dueling because I could not control how deadly my attacks were. Now I just don’t want to. Don’t want to fight only to prove my strength. If I have to protect myself or other people, I will fight. If that’s not needed, I won’t.”
“I’ll respect your choice...” Zoro took a slow sip, taking some time to run that novel concept through his mind. “But what if someone challenges you?”
“I’ll politely decline. If they insist and attack me, I’ll fight back as much as necessary.”
“Huh. Being a hermit really makes one wiser.”
“I guess it’s almost dying to one’s own ambition that makes one wiser.”
“I almost died to my own ambition, and it didn’t make me much wiser,” said Zoro.
“Didn’t it?” Kuina raised her eyebrow. “I’ve heard the full story. Though I think Usopp made it unnecessary colorful.”
“Was Nami there to keep him in check?”
“She was.”
“I don’t know about wiser.” Zoro felt a lump forming in his throat and swallowed around it. “Maybe I’ve learned something. If I had been on my own that day, my life would be over. Of blood loss, or humiliation. Could have killed myself. I had a thought, while I still had the strength… But Luffy stayed by me. Even defeated like that. They all stayed by me. Well, almost.”
They sat together through a long spell of silence, both looking down at the glowing coals.
“Thank you,” said Kuina at last. “For being honest. Do you hate me for leaving you on your own?”
“I did, sometimes. When I thought you were dead. But now I don’t.”
“Honest,” Kuina’s voice broke and Zoro looked up into her eyes, a little too shiny.
“I don’t blame you! And I never blamed you!” He moved to take her by her hand but stopped midway.
“It’s fine,” said Kuina. “We were both youngsters who didn’t know what they were doing. I set you free from your vows. I should have done it earlier.”
“Goodness, no! Why?!” Zoro could not sit still any more. He dropped his cup, stood up and started pacing around the cave, now dark except for the faintly glowing coals.
Kuina remained sitting, head hung low. “Just imagine,” she said. “What if I say that I need you to stay with me on this island and train, and Luffy says that he needs his first mate to help him find the One Piece? And we are both adamant? What would you do?”
Zoro stopped and squeezed his shoulders, thinking hard. “Is there a Devil Fruit that lets one split in two?” he asked with little hope.
“Now you are getting it. I’m just trying to tell you that you are making more vows than one person can fulfill.”
“I don’t regret any of those!”
“Never? Even once?”
“No. What do you want from me? I don’t know of another way to live.”
“Another way to live…”
With a sigh, Kuina stood up and went to pick up a box of matches from the desk. Zoro stopped pacing and watched her light candles on an old sturdy candle-holder. Catching the light, her wings sparkled, every little feather a sharp knife.
“Luffy asked me one thing today,” said Kuina, running her hand over the neat row of low candles. “What would I do with my life if I were absolutely free? Has he ever asked you that?”
“Maybe. I don’t remember. He said that being a pirate is about freedom.”
“Do you feel free when you are with him?”
“I guess I do. He is… easy. And he is confident.”
“You know that he is no more willing to force his will on you than I am?”
“I guess.”
Zoro came up to Kuina and ran his hand over the candles like she did, feeling the heat that would become unbearable if you let your hand linger a little too long. Kuina was doing just that, as if she wanted to test her endurance, and after a few seconds Zoro caught her wrist and drew her hand away from the candles. At that, Kuina visibly shivered and looked up at him with wide eyes.
“Sorry,” said Zoro and let go of her wrist.
“It’s nothing,” said Kuina. “Just, your hands are cold.”
She rubbed her hands together, then wrapped them around his right hand and gave it a squeeze. It did send some heat into Zoro, not only into his hand. He lightly squeezed back. She smiled.
“You’ve really grown much bigger than me,” she said, studying Zoro’s hand with interest and running her fingers over it. “My parents were right about that.”
“What does it have to do with anything?”
“Nothing, it’s just curious.”
She let go of his hand, breaking their connection. Zoro wished she hadn’t. He suspected that he had done or said something wrong, but he didn’t dare touch her himself. It was still hard to believe that she was real and was not going to fade away at his touch, or if he looked at her too closely. He could have made another vow, but Kuina had made it clear that she didn’t want any more vows.
“Do you want to feel free?” he asked, looking into the flames.
“I do. Now that I think about it… For the last few years I simply wanted not to be a threat to innocent people. Before that, I wanted to always be the best. Now, I guess, some good company, adventure, and the free life of a pirate are not that bad.”
“Would you like to become a pirate?” Zoro’s heart skipped a bit, drunk with hope.
“I can give it try. I have already killed quite a few pirates, might try being one for a change. Would you like to come with me?”
“Yes,” he looked up, grinning. “Yes! You know, there is a pirate ship and a crew waiting for us in the bay!”
“Right. I’ve heard they have a really good cook.”
Zoro narrowed his eyes.
“And the World’s Greatest Swordsman in the making!” added Kuina.
“And the World’s Greatest Swordswoman?” asked Zoro tentatively.
Kuina cocked her head. “Let’s hear what people say about me after I kick a few evil butts. If they call me the World’s Greatest Swordswoman, that will be fine with me.”
“And if they call you something else?”
“Let me hear it first, then I’ll judge.”