The Mer-Mer Fruit

the fruit

I got the idea of Luffy losing his hat from a video in YouTube. I wanted to show my sister how creepy he looked stretching his neck out. He then fell in the water, I had a dream about Zoro turning into a merman then. This happened. I just started writing and then, everything just came along, writing the fic by itself.

Luffy ran and ran, searching frantically while Zoro was on the grassy deck doing his daily training. The strawhat captain ran around and around the swordsman. He jumped and landed in the barrels that lay atop Zoro's booted feet. Zoro collapsed and the barrels fell ontop of him and Luffy, he glared at the boy next to him, crushed by the wood.
"Not here." He said disappointedly as a barbell fell onto his head.
"What?" Zoro asked, annoyed that his training was disrupted by non other than the king of morons.
"My hat. I can't find it." Luffy whined. The green-haired man sighed. "THE SEA!! It must be there!!" Luffy jumped up and ran to the edge of the boat and stretched his neck in search, he slipped and fell into the deadly deep blue.
"Stupid idiot." Zoro mumbled as he dove into the salty deeps. He saw a flash of red on his vision and grabbed Luffy's collar and threw him to the solid deck of the Sunny. As he swam up to the surface a sharp pain came from his ankle, he looked down to see a dart lodged in his flesh. He stopped swimming and black spots clouded his vision.
"That's for Arlong." was the last thing he heard before he succumbed to the darkness around him.
~timeskip~
Zoro's eyes cracked open and he found himself in a sea cave. The water filled the cave around him but to his surprise his lungs could extract the oxygen and fuel his body just fine. Something was wrong already. A woman - correction Mer-woman, hovered over him.
"Oh, you're awake." She noticed. Zoro didn't reply, even if he wanted to his voice wouldn't comply. The pain was coursing through his veins and at the same time, his strength was returning along with it.
"My name is Elena and I'm so sorry." She apologised, bowing slightly. Elena had long brown hair, it fell and twisted in the water around her waist and her turquoise tail shone. The scales reflected light off them and made a glow around her. Her eyes shimmered with gold, blue and mossy green. She had tanned skin and plump red lips, she had a sisterly feel to her. Zoro sat up straight and grabbed Wado from his side and unearthed her, a metallic ring bouncing off the cave walls and resounding in their ears, floating in the water around them and lingering. He pressed the blade to Elena's throat and glared into her eyes.
"Where have you taken me?" He growled.
"Y-You're i-i-in my cave." She stuttered, leaning away from the blade pressing into her skin.
"Why?" He asked through gritted teeth. The pain in his legs was the worst but his whole body hurt too. His stomach, his head, his throat everything hurt.
"My sister shot you with an arrow. It had the juice from the Mer Mer fruit in it." Elena explained.
"The Mer Mer fruit? A devil fruit?!" Zoro exclaimed, removing the blade and staggering back, Elena shook her head.
"No. It's not a devil fruit, but it is like a devil fruit. It doesn't take away your ability to swim it, well, the Mer Mer fruit well... it... well, it's hard to explain ... just... uh...look down." She stuttered. Zoro looked down to see his legs... gone. In their place was a green tail, like a shark. (Cover picture) He sat up and placed a hand on his tail, it felt scaly and rough, it was cold, unlike the skin he had on his upper body.
"How do I return to normal?" Zoro asked hiding the panic that was threatening to rise.
"You need to remember what your legs looked like. Then you can transform at will." Elena said. Zoro sighed.
"Do you know how I can go back to being human. So I don't have a tail?" Zoro asked.
"No, I don't, Although the Mer-Mer fruit is Alabastian. You could find a cure there. I don't know for sure." The brunette said, trying to think.
"Thanks. Have you seen my other two swords?" Zoro asked.
"Yeah, they're over there. Though, that's land steel. You'll need to enforce it with sea steel so You can use it underwater." The mermaid warned as Zoro looked around for How swords, somehow lost in a circular room.
"How can I do that?" Zoro asked, still searching.
"Head to Aquarius' forgery in Atlantis. There is a swordsmith by the name of Arintha. Tell her that Elena sent you. She'll help you then." The mermaid ordered. Zoro nodded and swam over to where he spotted the 2 blades. He picked them up and winced, they were too heavy for his liking. They weighed down his hand and titled, pointing to the ocean floor, they had always fit perfectly in his hand, as if they were built for him. They were heavy but too much, light but not too light, just perfect.
"Your ship can dock at the island near Atlantis, take this." Elena said as she threw something at Zoro and he looked at the thing in his hand.
"An eternal pose. Set to...'Argonia'. Is that the island name?" Zoro asked.
"Yes. Now get going, that ship is setting sail." Elena pointed out. Zoro looked up and she was right, the Thousand Sunny was leaving it was drifting along the waves above. As he swam up he heard the mermaid that lay in the shadows behind Elena mutter,
"You shouldn't be so apologetic and helpful Elena."
"Levy! You scared me!" Elena exclaimed. Zoro soon around and saw a pair of steel grey eyes glare at him. The mermaid was short, with a grey tail and raven locks. She had been eavesdropping in on the conversation since Zoro woke up.