𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓷 𝓸𝓯 𝓪 𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮 (Zoro x Reader)

Chapter 2 - Proper Introductions

"Do you need help getting up?" Zoro asked seeing you struggle with your legs.

"I-I'm fine..." You still didn't trust him completely, and there was still a slight hint of fear of him left in you, despite him reassuring to you a hundred times he wasn't going to hurt you. You dragged your body to a tree close by, laying your back on it as Zoro watched you.

"How did you get here?" He asked.

"W-Why do you wanna know?" You didn't mean to sound rude, you were just being cautious, you barely knew the boy and for all you care he might have bad intentions.

"I'm just curious" He answered.

After what seemed like a really long silence, you finally gathered the courage to say it, still kind of embarrassed about it.

"I... I got here by rowboat..."

"Rowboat?!"

"Y-yeah...?"

"This island isn't really close to other islands, and you got here by rowboat?"

"y-yeah..." You could feel he didn't believe you, no one really ever did, so at least you didn't get as sad as you would have gotten in another situation.

"Where did you come from?" Zoro continued with the questions.

"..." You looked away, not wanting to speak about it.

Before Zoro could continue with his questions, he felt a water droplet fall on his head as it started to rain. He went and sat next to you under the tree, not wanting to get soaked as the rain began pouring harder and harder by the second, it got silent as you both looked at the pouring rain, and even though you were under a tree, the rain still manages to reach both of you, falling through the leaves. You didn't really want to show him because he might call you a monster like everyone, but you couldn't get sick, not in the state you were in, but before you did, you asked him, breaking the silence.

"Would you find it strange if I had powers, and maybe call me a monster...?" You said the last part quietly, half of you wanting him to hear it, the other half scared of the outcome.

"What do you mean?" Zoro replied with a confused look on his face.

"Yes or no?" You asked again.

"I don't know, I might find it weird but I don't judg-"

Before Zoro could finish, a giant rose started growing in front of you, tilting toward you both to shield you from the rain, it was enormous and Zoro was surprised again. 'I'm sure he hates me now, I'm a monster after al-' Before you could finish your thought, Zoro spoke.

"That's pretty cool." Zoro said after he saw it protecting you both from the rain.

You were surprised and relieved at the same time, he didn't hate you and you were happy because of it, he seemed different than the others, he was actually nice for a change, even though he didn't speak much unless he needed to, or to ask you questions of course.

The silence took over again, making it a bit awkward as you were both sitting there, waiting for the rain to stop.

"Why did you look so angry when you were training? You didn't tell me much about yourself..." You broke the awkward silence after wondering for a while.

"Well, I lost something important to me, and there isn't much to say about mysel-"

"Why is your hair green?" You spurted out, not even letting him finish his sentence.

"For your information, it's natural" He said in a slightly angry tone.

"Really? That's strange" You chuckled a bit at his answer.

"Why are your clothes all torn up?"

"I don't have any more clothes, so I just wear these all the time, and please don't mention my hair, I know it's a mess..."

"We have some clothes back at the dojo, I think they'd fit you"

"What's a dojo?"

Zoro looked at you dumbfounded.

"Do you seriously now know what a dojo is?" He asked looking surprised again, and with that we started chatting.

You continued to chat for a bit, mostly it was Zoro explaining to you what most of the stuff he talked about was, and you told him a bit of myself, but you didn't feel comfortable telling him everything, he would notice and change the subject every time, as you slowly started opening up to him more. Suddenly lightning struck, a thunder sound quickly followed and you got scared, flinching as you heard it.

"Are you scared of the storm?" Zoro asked.

You nodded while you kept your head between your legs, all curled up, flinching every time thunder was heard.

"It's ok, it's going to end quickly" He tried comforting you, not being as successful in calming you down as he had planned, as you continued flinching, still curled up.

"Look, we're safe, the lighting won't strike us, ok?" He reassured you as you slowly opened one of your eyes.

"You promise?" You asked, still scared

"Yeah, no need to be afraid" he reassured me, and little by little, you started feeling less scared, still flinching though, but less.

"When this storm passes let's go to the dojo and get you new clothes." He said "You're going to get sick wearing those rags"

"Do I really have to?" You asked, looking down, not wanting to go.

"Why? I already explained what a dojo is-"

"That's not it... You said there are a lot of swordsmen there right...?" You clenched your fists as you said it, curling up again and hiding part of your face behind your knees as you did so.

"You don't like swordsmen?"

You shook your head telling him no.

"I'm a swordsman too"

"But you're different, you're nice to me..."

"The other swordsmen are nice too"

Zoro saw that you were uncomfortable, he didn't know why, but he respected your privacy and that you didn't want to go, but he still found it strange since you wouldn't even give it a chance to go there and meet the other swordsmen

"Fine, I'll bring a new pair of clothes for you here" He said, with a look that showed he wasn't going to change his mind.

You gave off a slight smile, it was one of the first times someone cared about you and took care of you. You nodded to Zoro as you both waited for the storm to pass as you continued chatting.

"Hey, Zoro"

"What?"

"How old are you?"

"I'm 8, why?"

"I wanted just to know, I'm 7, so you're a year older than me"

"I thought you were 5"

"5?!?!" You said in a half-mad-half-surprised tone.

"You're small, anyone would think you're 5"

"Just because I'm small you don't have to point it out" You pouted, mad at him.

"Yeah, yeah..."