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Zoro slapped the bug catching net down, glaring at the flying beetle that escaped. The net he owned wasn’t really good for actually catching the bugs, but he still felt a little satisfaction seeing the bug flying through the broken holes in the net. If he had better equipment, he would have caught at least five bugs this afternoon alone.
This was a perfect place to be alone - down by the old town section of the riverbank. The American Naval Base could be seen in the distance, but from here, on the outskirts of the bustling city, in the ruins of an old bombing site, Zoro could be all alone. No one yelled at him for getting in the way or not doing his chores correctly. No one hit him for being another mouth to feed. No one bothered him and talked about how his father shouldn’t have left him here, how a yakuza member should be able to take care of his own spawn.
Yeah, he liked being out of that house as much as possible. Being alone was way preferable to all that mess. He couldn’t make friends with other children in this forgotten outskirt of a town. He was too dirty, too smelly, and too weird according to the other roaming children. He couldn’t blame them, really. He wore a stained white t-shirt, a set of baggy black and white shorts, and muddy sneakers that hadn’t been washed in weeks.
So down here in the weeds and bugs by the river, Zoro played alone.
When someone rolled down the hill right in front of Zoro, he stopped in place and stared with wide eyes. The person plopped into the river and took a while to surface before clearly struggling to swim. Zoro stared some more. He couldn’t understand what they were saying, this stranger, but he knew when someone needed help.
Jumping into the river, Zoro pulled the other kid to the riverbank and patted him on the back a few times. “Are you okay? What happened? Where’d you come from?”
The kid coughed water out of his lungs and then rolled over on his back, arms outstretched. Then he spoke in English, so Zoro pinched his eyebrows together and tried to make out what this person was saying. “Thank you,” he could understand and something about being “sure I was dead.”
Zoro pulled back, sat on his legs next to Luffy, and placed his hands on his knees as he worked to speak English. “Oh. Uh. English? Uh. American? Are you…okay?”
“Mhm,” the kid said before sitting up quickly. “Wait! Where’s my hat?”
While it took a while for Zoro’s brain to translate and understand, he did have (supposedly) an American mother and his aunt spoke in English around him sometimes when talking to other Americans. So he could manage a little. He pointed to the large straw hat that had fallen on the riverbank before the strange American kid could fall in the water.
Zoro watched with wide eyes as the kid jumped up and ran over to the hat, as if it were the most important thing in the world. He could sort of understand that. He had some sticks he had worked on to be decent stand-ins for swords. He would be upset if anyone took those from him. He had worked hard on them, after all, and they were his one personal possession that his aunt or her boyfriends couldn’t touch because of where he hid them.
The American adjusted the hat on his head, then rubbed at the white shirt with the anchor on it, and patted at his shorts before grinning over at Zoro. “I’m Luffy.”
“Oh. Uh. Okay,” Zoro mumbled, standing up awkwardly and holding out a hand because that was what Americans did when introducing themselves, right? “I am Roronoa Zoro. Nice to…meet you.”
Luffy grinned and then yelped at the sound of adults further up the hill. “Come with me! We gotta hide!”
The other kid grabbed his hand and yanked him forward, running faster than Zoro expected so he didn’t have much chance but to go along with it. “H-hide? From what?”
Luffy dragged them both into bushes and then put up a finger to his lips. “Shhh! I’ll explain once they’re gone!”
“Ah - uhm - okay.”
Tilting his head, Zoro waited for his brain to process every word, then went along with Luffy’s request. Stay still until “they” were gone. He wasn’t sure who Luffy was hiding from, but he understood the need to hide from adults. So he kept eyes on the American as Luffy stared out beyond the bushes.
Adult voices came and went. A glance through the bush revealed two men in military uniforms, and Zoro felt a spike of panic run up his spine. His aunt would be mad if he got in trouble with the military. He wasn’t supposed to go near the base. He wasn’t supposed to be attention to him or the family. He shouldn’t -
Luffy chuckled and leaned back, stopping Zoro from spiraling into panic. “No school today~”
Another closer look outside revealed the adults had moved on, so Zoro breathed a sigh of relief. He was safe. “Did they hit you? You’re hiding? Are your parents there? Are you running away?”
Luffy tilted his head with a frown and Zoro realized he had spoken really fast and might have even switched into Japanese because he hadn’t been thinking too straight. “You sound weird. Anyway. I’m sick of sitting in a classroom on that base learning about all the cool stuff around here. I wanna see it all myself, and you’re gonna show me!”
Zoro blinked as the American stood up, hands on his hips and pointed at Zoro (after pulling them both out of the bush, of course). “H-haaaaaaah? You want me…to show you…uh…what is ‘cool stuff?’”
“Fun things! Awesome things!” Luffy said, grabbing Zoro by the hand again to tug him along down the riverbank. “Let’s go! Show me something cool!”
“Ah - uh - L-Luffy?” He wasn’t sure what to do about some strange kid dragging him around like this; he’d already left his bug catching net behind, but this close touching from a stranger was kind of awkward. “You - uh - you shouldn’t grab my hand like that.”
“Hm? How come? I don’t want you getting lost. At least, that’s what Ace always says. And Grandpa.”
Eyebrows pinching together again, Zoro stumbled along, trying to keep up with Luffy’s pace. “Huh? I won’t…get lost. I live here. And it’s…weird. I just met you.”
Stopping in place, Luffy looked back at him. “But you saved my life so we’re friends now.”
“F-friends? But I don’t have -” He blinked, staring back at the smile on the kid’s face, and then looked away. “Do you mean it? It’s not a trick, right?”
“Duh! I always mean what I say!” Luffy said. “I wouldn’t trick you about being friends. You seem really cool, Zoro. So show me something cool!”
“Cool…”
Zoro frowned, trying to understand exactly what Luffy meant by this word because he wasn’t using it how Zoro had learned it. But he understood the part about showing something to Luffy. The kid clearly wanted to explore. It had been a while since he had explored anything with anyone. There wasn’t much he hadn’t seen yet in this area of the town, but showing it to someone…
…now that could be fun.
Squeezing Luffy’s hand, he sprang ahead and pointed forward. “Come on. I know a place.”
Maybe he didn’t have to be alone all the time anymore.