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The first thing Luffy notices about the green-haired guy isn’t actually anything about him - it’s the bird riding on his shoulder, which hops down when they reach the bar. “A bottle for me, and water for my friend,” the guy says quietly, after he hefts up a big weird bag to drop into a seat. “She’s had a long flight.”
The bird chirps, tail flicking.
“Cool,” Luffy grins. He doesn’t know anybody with a pet hawk.
Even cooler, a few minutes later, it turns out the bird isn’t just a pet.
The green-haired guy is wicked fast, and really strong, and SUPER good at fighting: he takes out, like, ten marines without ever drawing any of his swords all the way out. And the hawk helps! Twice, it shrieks as somebody comes up behind the guy, and he’s clearly used to the warnings, reaching or kicking without even taking a look, bringing down one opponent after another. And! When the rude jerk who started the whole thing yanks his sword free of the bar where it got stuck, the hawk flies straight at his face, making him scream and drop it and curl up into a ball on the floor.
That’s where the swordsman finally comes back to him, picking up the guy and shoving him against the countertop. “You shouldn’t draw your blade unless you’re prepared to use it.” The hawk shrieks, agreeing, blue-black wings flapping hard enough to blow the jerk’s long hair into his face.
So cool.
The next time Luffy sees Green Guy and his bird, they’re inside the marine base. And tied to a big pole.
Or the guy is, anyway; the bird is perched way up on top, out of reach. Or at least out the reach of anybody who isn’t made of rubber, but Luffy can be polite and not grab her to say hi. “Oh hey! You’re the guy from the bar!”
“Get lost.”
Yeah, already on it. “I am, lost. I’m trying to get inside the base.” He turns back around, and Green Guy’s eyes are closed. If he wants to take a nap, that’s fine, but there’s better place to do it than tied up to a big pole.
...huh.
“Hey, I saw the way you fight. How’d they even arrest you?” Overhead, the hawk screeches. Luffy thinks she sounds annoyed.
“They didn’t,” Green Guy says. “I gave myself up.”
Hm. “Interesting choice.” Must be a good story. This guy definitely is not a coward who backed down for nothing. “I’m sure you had your reasons.”
Another scream from the bird. Green Guy finally looks up. “You don’t know anything about me.”
Ah, but Luffy does! “I know that you protected that little girl from those marines yesterday!” (Just like Shanks and his crew stepped in to protect Luffy when he was little, and that stupid bandit came back to Makino’s bar to throw his weight around.) “You’re a good guy.”
“I’m Roronoa Zoro, the Pirate Hunter.” With a flutter of feathers and another screech, the hawk descends to land on his right shoulder, glaring head-on just like her friend.
“Well, I’m Monkey D. Luffy, and I’m going to be the King of the Pirates. And I think, you should join my crew. Both of you,” he adds, grinning wider.
The bird pulls her head back. Green Guy, Zoro, lets out a huff. “What makes you think we’d want to play pirates with you?”
“You’re a great fighter,” Luffy points out. “And she knows what she’s doing too! I’d say that together, we’d make a pretty good team.”
“We kill your kind for a living,” Zoro growls, smile gone. “Pirate hunter and stalker.”
“Eh, you keep saying that.” (Ace spent ages yelling at Luffy to go away and leave him alone too.) “But is that all you are?” The bird makes a softer noise. “Is that all you want?” The guy looks away. “Or is there more?”
Luffy can feel it. A shift in the air. The kind of thing back home that means the wind’s about to change, maybe blowing in a storm, maybe clearing the skies for the sun.
“...we’re each half of a promise,” Zoro finally says, his eyes staring at something else, far away. “An oath sworn a long time ago.” He takes a deep breath, turning his head back towards Luffy. “To become the World’s Greatest Swordsman.”
Ahh.
Now that is a dream.
Luffy offers a grin. “Impressive.” That really is the kind of person he wants on his crew. Or, even if Zoro keeps saying ‘no’, the kind of person Luffy won’t let be kept away from their goal.
He walks around the crossbeam attached to the pole, and starts tugging at the knots. With a muted chirp, the hawk hops closer, head cocked to pay close attention to his fingers. In front of them, Zoro says, “You can untie me, but we’re still not joining your crew.”
“Okay!”
“I mean it. We don’t owe you anything.”
“I just think it’s a waste of time for you to be hanging out here, when there’s something you want out there.”
The ropes unwrap and fall away. Whistling, the hawk takes flight, fluttering around her friend’s head as he stands up, then landing on his shoulder. Hey, there’s even some leather padding sewn in place for her talons to grip! Neat!
With that done, Luffy heads back to the sewer grate he climbed out of. “Good luck on the sword thing,” he calls back over his shoulder. “Hey, can you close this behind me?” Zoro doesn’t say anything as Luffy drops down, but the hawk shrieks, which sounds like an ‘okay. “Thanks!”
After stealing the marine boss guy’s safe and winning that huge fight and escaping on Nami’s ship, Luffy feels really good about his new crew.
And! It turns out! Zoro’s pet bird really, really is so much more than a pet.
Right as the sun is setting, their swordsman steps into the boat’s cabin and shuts the door, three swords on his hip, blue-black hawk on his shoulder. Luffy’s busy watching Nami get the safe open, but he looks over when the door opens again a few minutes later, after the sun is gone over the horizon and moonlight is creeping over the ocean waves instead.
That’s not Zoro.
Instead, there’s a tall, strong looking woman in the doorway, just the one white sword clipped to her belt, a green cat with stripes like a tiger draped around her shoulders.
She’s got blue hair.
“What the-”
Nami grabs for her staff, but Luffy holds out a hand to stop her, already grinning. “Hi! You’re Zoro’s friend!”
New lady tips her head a little to one side, staring at him. And then she smirks. “I am. My name is Shimotsuki Kuina, the Pirate Stalker. And you, are Monkey D. Luffy.”
“Future King of the Pirates,” he reminds her, before jumping over to stand right in front of the woman, holding out his hand to shake. “Welcome to the crew, Kuina!”
After a second, she reaches back, smirk growing into a real smile.