Daughter of the Sea (One Piece Live Action)

Episode 13 WANTED

Coral opened her eyes as the morning sun came through the open window falling upon her face. She sat up slowly over Nojiko's creaking bed. Only Luffy was there sleeping nearby on a wooden chair, his arms crossed and straw hat on his lap as his head hanged sideways.

She looked down to herself, her whole body, hair and skin were stiff, covered in a dark substance that grew dry during the night leaving a mess on the sheets covering her. Without making a sound other than that of the old bed as she moved, she walked towards the door that remained open all night and marched barefooted into the courtyard of the village, ignoring the stares of the early-risers watching the girl leave.

One person sat on the roof of a hut, cautiously overseeing the entire village, a black cloth around his head and a set of sharp swords laying on his lap. He jumped off the edge and followed her until he reached her side.

Her face looked lost as she searched around for something. At first, she didn't acknowledge him, she might have probably not even noticed his presence-

"Why were you up all night?" She asked, her eyes still scanning the woods around them, before she met his gaze with a tiny smile. "You've got dark circles under your eyes."

Roronoa Zoro looked straight to the front, remaining unfazed. He was quickly learning not to underestimate any of the Straw Hat siblings.

After a while of silently walking, he looked at her by the corner of his eye.

"You seem fine-" He commented ignoring the disheveled appearance of someone who fought in a battlefield of mud the previous night.

"Oh!" She interrupted and grinned widely, "There it is!" She ran away.

Zoro frowned, leaning sideways to try to see across the forest density what she'd seen, but instead found himself listening. The sound of the crashing waves in the distance. The beach.

He kept a constant pace as he tiredly walked in the direction the girl had disappeared towards and coming out of the trees found himself with his boots burying in dirt and sand with each step, the wind blowing on his face. Coral sat right on the line where the sea water rushed over the rocky, sandy earth. She was scrubbing her arms and face in the saltwater as he came to stand by her side, nonchalantly eyeing the water and questioning whether he should also wash the weariness off his face. Maybe the burn the girl should be feeling in her eyes would wake him up too, but she didn't seem bothered by the salt at all.

Zoro had a dozen questions in the tip of his tongue, most that had everything to do with what happened last night, but somehow managed to wait patiently for her to finish.

"Thank you." She blurted out of a sudden, still squatting down. Her next words were even more confusing: "There is no need, though..." She looked away towards the horizon with a definite note of certainty in her voice. "Grandpa's not one for schemes... He truly isn't coming back for me." Zoro's index tapped on the handle of his swords.

"How did he first managed to lock you into that school?" 

Her button nose scrunched, looking up at him.

"Okay... Maybe he got me that one time-"

"Human's emotions aren't reliable. One can make a decision one day and next morning have a whole different perspective on it and the world." It made her gape. "They're the cause of the greatest threats of humanity. Revenge, hate-"

"Love?" She mused. "And loyalty, and the desire for freedom, and the fulfillment of old promises?" She gave him a pointed look, before looking away in thought. "They're also the cause of the greatest virtues of humanity." There was a silence filled only by the sound of the distant waves. Coral nodded to herself, now rubbing water in the stiff strands of hair. "Lucky me, I tend to rely in logic-"