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The market was busy, people moving slowly through the rows of booths, stopping here and there, striking up conversations with the people standing behind the stalls. It was Zoro‘s first time at the Ringo spring market, and the biggest market he had attended so far. It was going well. He‘d sold two pocket knives, a coat rack, three door knockers, and an ornamental piece that looked like a tree and could theoretically hold a lightsource. One man had booked him to make a metal gate. And it was only noon.
Zoro picked at the bento Sanji had shoved at him grumpily, like he always did whenever Zoro left for a market, and that he never acknowledged tasted great. Usopp had already eaten his share and had left the stall to take a look around the market a few minutes earlier. Just as Zoro took a big bite out of an onigiri, a manicured hand reached for one of the swords displayed in the middle of his table.
„May I?“
Zoro's eyes followed the hand up an arm clad into a yellow blouse and then further up to a pretty face. He swallowed the rest of his onigiri and wiped his hands on his work trousers as he stood. „Sure.“ He reached for the hilt himself and turned the sword for the woman to take it.
Her grip on the hilt was experienced. Clearly someone who had handled many a sword in her lifetime. While the woman tested the sword‘s weight and balance, Zoro took her in more closely. Her stance had shifted the moment she touched the sword. Her left arm was prosthetic, but she moved it just as naturally as the right one. Her body moved fluidly with the sword, as if it was a part of her body. And the people who passed her almost imperceptibly bowed their heads at her, even though her gaze was trained on the sword.
Without warning, she shifted into a series of katas, right in the middle of the market. Zoro just stared. Took in her form, the fluidity of the movements, the ease with which she moved. Like she‘s done it a thousand times. As if she wasn't worried she would hurt or disturb anyone. When she was done, she straightened and held the blade into the air in front of her face. She looked at him past the sword. „This is good work.“
„Thank you.“ Zoro slightly bowed his head at the compliment. „Do you want to test it against another sword?“ The suggestion was out before he could think about it. He felt his ears go warm, but kept his eyes on her.
She raised an eyebrow at him. „Here?“ She made a show of looking around, taking in all the other people around them, as if she hadn't just performed a series of katas in a space packed full of people.
„When my assistant comes back, we could find some space,“ Zoro suggested. He should keep his mouth shut. He was here to sell his work, not goad someone he didn't even know into a sword fight. Especially not someone that seemed revered all around, and whose skill level he couldn’t gauge. Based on her handling of the sword, she wasn‘t a novice. But it was easy to hurt someone with a weapon like this. Zoro had made it. He knew how deadly it was.
The woman handed the sword back to him. „I don‘t think I‘ve seen you at this market before.“
Zoro put the sword back onto the mount. „First time. I used to only do smaller markets, but since the business is expanding, I am trying my luck.“
Her eyes followed his movements as she listened. „How is it going?“
„Good.“ For a moment, in his mind, he froze. He wanted to keep talking to her. Willed Usopp to come back so he could insist on letting her wield the sword against his. He opened his mouth, unsure what would come out. „Do you come every year?“
She giggled and covered her mouth with a hand. „Since they ask me to open it every year, I take my time to look at the stalls as a present to myself.“
It took Zoro a moment until the words really landed. And another one until he connected it to the information he‘d read on the market schedule. „You‘re the mayor?“
She winked and extended her hand. „Kikunojo of the Lingering Snow, but you can call me Kiku.“
„Roronoa Zoro,“ he said automatically as he shook her hand.
„Heeeeey Z, did you see-“ Usopp stopped dead in his tracks right next to them, eyes going from one to the other. „Sorry, didn‘t mean to interrupt.“
„It‘s fine,“ Zoro murmured and pulled his hand away. „Sorry for trying to talk you into a sword fight.“ He‘d heard of Ringo‘s mayor. Like the other mayors in Wano, people respected her, and everyone knew that she wasn‘t to be messed with. He really should have kept his mouth shut.
She smiled as if she knew something he didn‘t. „Don‘t apologise. Now that your assistant is back, I‘d like to take you up on it.“
Zoro stared some more and it took Usopp elbowing him in the side to startle him out of his trance. He was already in over his head. Naturally, there was only one way to go. Through. He gestured to the sword Kiku had chosen earlier. „Do you want to try her, or another one?“
„Her.“ With that, Kiku turned around and walked away, confident that he would follow. People made way for her like water flowing around a pebble.
Zoro grabbed the sword, and one of his own from under the table, and with a last pleading look at Usopp, scrambled not to lose her in the crowd.