【𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨】

ᴀ ᴘʀᴏᴘᴇʀ ɪɴᴛʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴ

Zoro woke up a few hours later, fading into consciousness as one thought entered his mind.

Shusui. He still didn't have his sword.

He quickly leapt up from his resting place in a shout, scaring the two other people nearby him.
On second thought, where was he? He was definitely in some old abandoned shack, but it was warm and he was covered by a pink haori, which had since been kicked into the air.

"Samurai-San!", cried a small girl, startled by his sudden motion.
Memories flooded his mind as he recognised her and the woman as the people he had saved earlier.

The woman was welcoming and gladly helped him out after profusely thanking him for him saving their lives.

Zoro could have stayed there, but he had a sword to get back. He tried to rush out, but the woman had none of it and attempted to pull his arm back.
"No, you cannot go out with such a grave wound!"

She didn't know what he had survived before, so he wasn't angry at that. He was, however, annoyed at the fact that she was pulling at his arm with an injured shoulder.
"The wound is on that side, idiot!"

She apologised, but as soon as he tried to leave again, she beckoned him back in.

"Do not go! Your wound has not yet healed!"

She once again pulled him by his arm.

He yelped in pain before shouting, "I said my wound is right there! Why can't you see it!?"

She once again apologised as the little girl, Toko, giggled.
Since there was no way around it, he settled on staying, even for just a little longer. His arm hurt like hell, anyway.

He wasn't sure about the older woman, but she was clearly trying to help even if she was struggling, especially with his more stubborn attitude.

The small girl kept a positive outlook, giggling excessively and always holding a large grin on her face. She reminded him of Luffy in that way, but something still felt off about it.

Though he was hesitant, he managed to ask for some food. Blissfully, the woman replied and immediately served some out for him.

Pleased that he was enjoying the food, she started a conversation.
Gyukimaru was the name of the man who took Shusui, but he was known for confiscating swords from armed travellers. Now, Shusui was safely back at Ryuma's grave where it was taken so many years ago.

Zoro only took one thing from this new information into consideration; he could try and get back shusui anytime.

He also learnt that the reason they were chased in the first place was because they made Orochi angry. Just another reason to add to the list of why he hated the cruel shogun.

The thick atmosphere was broken up by a joke from Toko, both introducing herself and failing to make Zoro laugh. His deadpan response to the question of whether it was funny or not, simply saying, "No, not really." made Hiyori laugh.
The Samurai in front of her wasn't the most emotionally intelligent, but while he could come off as mean she could tell there were some layers to him.

The first of which was where he was from, and she said as such, stating that she could tell he was from overseas. Despite her struggle to say that he didn't look like a bad person without stuttering, she could tell that he hadn't got evil intentions. After all, he had saved her and Toko's life, hadn't he?

She gazed at him and his lack of a response as he drank from the bottle of sake.

She didn't think it through much, but she felt inclined to reveal something to him. He had to know, for some reason other than just helping her earlier.

He kept a stern expression as she told him about having an older brother who she had been separated from 20 years ago, but he expressed instant disbelief in the reveal that she was, in fact, the brother of Kozuki Momonosuke, named Kozuki Hiyori.

He couldn't believe that she was related to that gremlin of a child who he had been travelling with for the past few islands.

"Momonosuke's... Sister?"

She expressed instant glee at his clear understanding of her brother, and audibly said how she connected the dots. Unfortunately, that glee quickly turned into worry as he calmed down. What if he knew of Momonosuke as he was an enemy trying to kill her brother?

Zoro immediately brushed that thought aside by clarifying that he was, indeed, an ally. He continued by confirming that all the people she listed were alive.

He was still confused though. She was a young adult, but Momonosuke, her supposedly older brother was only 8.

She explained how Momo was sent forward in time, but memories of the day 4 of her father's retainers and her brother were sent 20 years into the future by her dying mother brought her back to the moment of her father's death.
She recounted the day and where she went from there until she was 13.

Zoro had heard plenty of sad stories. He felt pity for her as a young child, only 6, to go through all of that, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

She was definitely happy after he tried to cheer her up by telling her about the other allies he had met though. She even had to hold back tears upon hearing about all the people coming to save her and the Kozuki clans reign.

After all was said and done, he decided to get some rest. He was still injured in the end.
Though he was trying to sleep, her and Toko's excitement kept him unable to get to sleep, even though he could sleep through most things ranging from his rowdy crew to cannonball fire. Hiyori's constant presence lingered in his mind before he finally could drift off.

While he slept, Hiyori kept on talking to Toko. She was glad that everyone was okay, but she wasn't sure if she could meet them before the big battle. After all, it would be interfering with their emotions and possibly distract them.

She turned her head to Toko, noticing that she was now just talking to herself since the young girl had fallen asleep next to Zorojuro.

A thought popped into mind as she shivered from the frightfully cold air drifting in through a broken window and the fire once lit deteriorating.

She laid down her haori onto the sleeping two in place of a comforter as she stared into his one eye.

A/N

Yeahhhh I'm alive. Forgot to upload for like a month. Or two, idk really. Ma goal for this chapter is one Upvote (the star thingy?) and 10 reads. !! I request the non existent readers to comment!! ... I sound obsessed with comments -_-

That's it ig :)