The Greatest Swordswoman

The color red

"Do you think he's ever going to put on pants?" Zoro asked as she reached for the bottle of sake on the counter. Sanji slid the sake away from her and placed a cup of water in front of her instead. She was draining their alcohol reserves faster than he could replenish them.

"Sadly, I don't think he ever will." Sanji replied, sighing. "Why couldn't our new shipwright have been a beautiful woman?"

"To add to the number of women who ignore you?" Zoro teased and was rewarded with a slap upside the head. She laughed.

The straw hat crew had certainly been through a lot. Flying islands, assassinations, runaway trains, and now it finally felt as if they had a bit of a break. Their old ship, the Going Merry, had been replaced and they now resided on a newly completed and much larger ship, the Thousand Sunny along with its creator, Franky.

He was yet another enemy turned friend, and Zoro was starting to seriously be concerned about who Luffy added to his crew. It had worked out well so far... but where was the line?

She sighed and reached for the sake again, ignoring the water.

"It's 10 in the morning." Sanji emphasized, taking the bottle of sake and putting it away. Zoro rolled her eyes. Sanji and her had managed to settle into a comfortable friendship. They still fought, a lot, but it was more teasing one another than vicious. Neither of them ever brought up the kiss that had happened oh so long ago. It was an unspoken rule between them. Zoro didn't know how to feel about the whole thing so she did what she usually did and stuffed all her feelings deep down. Emotions made you weak. Perhaps that was why Franky annoyed her so much, he sure cried a lot.

But... there were moments. Moments where Zoro and Sanji would get caught up complaining about something and end up talking far after dark. Moments where she caught herself staring at him longer than necessary. Moments where his hand on her shoulder made her heart skip a beat. He just understood her. And they fought so well together, like they could read one another's minds.

No. Push it down.

"Hey everyone, I found something SUPER!" Called Franky from the deck. Sanji and Zoro exchanged glances before heading out to the deck along with everyone else.

Franky was hoisting a large barrel onto the ship with Usopp's help.

"Is it booze?" Zoro asked, walking over.

"Do you have a problem?" Sanji asked the swordsman.

"Maybe it's some preserves." Robin wondered, "But either way, be careful when you open it just in case."

Luffy reached over and pulled the lid off, and suddenly the barrel exploded, shooting a beam of smoke high into the sky. The crew tensed and looked around worriedly, their position now revealed to anyone nearby.

It all happened at once, suddenly a storm appeared in the distance and fog was rolling in while the crew kept their eyes pealed for anything amiss. They made it through the storm thanks to the Thousand Sunny, but the fog stayed and left the crew feeling uncomfortable.

"Do not worry, Nami-san, Robin-chan~ If you are afraid you can seek shelter in my arms." Sanji fussed towards the two women, who promptly ignored him.

"Yohohoho~ yohohohoho~"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked around nervously at the mysterious sound.

"It's coming from this way..." Franky noted, leaning over the railing and trying to see anything in the deep fog.

"Yohohoho~ hohohho~"

"I see something..." Usopp said, trembling as he backed away towards the other side of the ship. Chopper joined him. Zoro clutched her swords as a ship came into view. However, it was no ordinary ship. The ship was easily four times larger than their own, but the striking part of the ship was that it was in tatters. The sales were ripped to shreds and the ship itself had numerous holes and tares in its side.