It Was You - A Zoro Roronoa Love Story

Revealing the Plot, Captain Kuro

"The Captain's been gone for quite a while," Carrot says, standing up and looking down the long stretch of road that leads to the village.

"Yeah, Luffy, too." Zoro agrees, standing up and stretching his muscles.

Surprisingly, he has been holding onto me this entire time, even though I had calmed down shortly after seeing the Hypnotists again after so many years. There's something comforting about being in Zoro's presence. I'm not sure what it is, but the silent way that he held me tight to keep me together when I felt like falling apart somehow gave me the strength that I needed to keep going, even though that's the last thing that I feel like doing right now.

"He probably just needs some time." Onion replies.

"Whenever the Captain gets really upset like this, you can usually find him hanging out by the shore." I smile. That's where my special spot used to be, too. Right off to the side of a small cliff with a tide pool in it was my special-shaped rock.

All three young boys make weird noises. I look up in enough time to see Usopp running towards us. "Captain!" They exclaim.

"Hold on, I thought that Luffy was supposed to be with him?"

"Oh no." I sigh. I stand up slowly, my body protesting at having to move after being in such a sight position for so long.

Taking a couple of steps forward, I start losing my balance, but thankfully, Nami reaches out an arm to help keep me steady while Zoro wraps an arm around my waist to help me stand back up again.

"Thanks guys." Nami smiles in reply, but Zoro keeps his serious expression on Usopp.

"Captain!" The kids exclaim again but still get ignored as Usopp continues running past them.

"Hey, where's Luffy?" Usopp continues running past us, ignoring us as well. "Is he still at the shore?"

"Wow, he looks really upset. But why? Could it still be because of the Butler?"

"You mean the fake Butler?"

"Who knows," Zoro replies.

"No, that wasn't just a mad face."

"It was different."

"It was a tragic face of pure desperation."

"Hey, why don't you guys show us the way to get down to that shore of his."

"What are you thinking, Zoro?"

"If you're right about who these guys really are, then maybe Usopp and Luffy found out the hard way about them, too." I can't help but groan.

"Why shouldn't I be surprised if he really did get himself into trouble again?" I sigh irritably. "This is so irritating."

"Smells like an adventure to me."

"Yeah."

"Something big must have happened at the shore."

"This calls for the Usopp Pirates." Nami and I glance at each other with sweat dripping off our faces.

"Enough of this. How do we get to this place?" Zoro asks, also starting to get frustrated with the kids' playful attitudes.

"Alright, just follow us." The three of us do so, and as we walk, I force Zoro's arm away from me.

He looks at me to see if I'm sure about this, but I ignore him and keep walking. I am a big girl who needs to learn how to take care of herself. One of these days, I know that I'm going to run into a situation where I'm going to be alone again, and I refuse to be as helpless as I was back then.