The sun slowly peaked up from the horizon signaling a new day and Zoro's end to his night watch. Grunting as he stood up and grabbed his swords, he beelined down the ladder to the deck with full intention of being reunited with his bed. Unfortunately, he just had to hear the sounds of faint grunting from the other side of the deck. He frowned, exhaustion evident on his face. He knew it wasn't the shit cook so who else would be up at this hour?

Being the responsible first mate he was, he huffed in annoyance before changing direction to locate the cause of the sounds, moving his hand to sit on the hilt of his sword in the off chance of an invasion. To his disappointment, he finds you. To his eye, you appeared to be training with your sword near the tangerine trees with your back to him unaware of his arrival.

He noticed your attire: black, loose clothing almost tattered from extensive wear. Your hair was tied up and sweat glistened down your neck and back. At his brief observation of you, he could tell by the power you had as you swung your sword up and down that you were no novice. For some reason, he was reminded of home watching you. He felt nostalgic, briefly thinking of Koushirou from his time training under him.

'Was it possible that you were trained in the same dojo as him?'

He quietly continued to watch until you finished, hearing a sigh of relief leave your mouth. Sheathing your sword back and turning to head back to your room, a small gasp of surprise left you followed by a flush of embarrassment on your face as you realized Zoro was standing there. You stood awkward, you weren't sure how long he was standing there for but nonetheless offered him a shy smile.

Zoro: "Where did you train?" He asked as he walked to stand in front of you.

Y/N: "Back at our village, we trained in the same dojo. You wouldn't remember me, I was quite small and easily blended into the background." You answered, smiling at the fond memory you have as a kid watching Zoro defeat almost every student who dared to challenge him, including yourself. You couldn't help but mentally coo at how cute he was as a kid.

Zoro nodded. His eye was captured by your sword. He lifted his hand up with his palm visible, silently asked for your permission to see the sword. Your eyes went to his palm, frowning as you noticed the calluses decorating his hands.

'They look rougher from the last time you saw him.'

Your hand tingled remembering how they felt in your hand.

After a few seconds of ogling, realization dawned on you of what he was asking for. You unhooked your sword from your waist and gently handed your sword into his palm.

'I wonder if he will ever remember that he gifted me this sword.' You thought to yourself.

Zoro took your sword and unsheathed it, taking in the weight and its intricate design of dark green with gold decorating the entrance points. He knew this was a sword of a swordsman. He was amused at the thought of someone like you handling a sword like this. As he held the sword, he also felt familiarity with it, almost as if it wasn't his first time holding it.

He briefly looked up from the sword to observe you, seeing the visible definition in your arms folded under your chest, the faint sight of scars littered sporadically over your hands and the faint outline of abs on your waist. He had clearly misjudged you being delicate. You would feel the weight on his eyes on you, almost like...no there was no way he was checking you out.

Y/N: "I could kick your ass right now Roronoa." You spoke confidently as you took back your sword and re-tied it back to your waist, showcasing a cocky grin on your face.

Zoro: "Are you sure about that?" Zoro questioned with a raised brow smirking back at you, you nodded taking a few steps away from him. He could see the seriousness in your gaze as you unequipped your sword from its sheath.

Y/N: "Don't even think about going easy on me either." You warned, getting into a fighting stance.

Zoro: "If you say so." He pulled out Wado. You eyed the sword and for a moment your heart ached for Kuina. The pristine condition of the sword was just proof of how he didn't fuck around over the last few years with his vow to her. Shaking the ache away and replacing it with determination, you watched as he got himself into position

Y/N: "Bring it on."

The two of you lunged at each other, the clash of swords gritting against each other as the sun rose higher into the blue sky. As promised, he did not go easy on you with the immense power he gave into his attacks. You were light on your feet, using your speed and stamina to counter his attacks. He grew frustrated with you, he could tell you planned to exhaust him as you ran around him handing him short but attacks.

You were so quick in fact, you ended up behind him, taunting him by giggling in his right ear and quickly moving away as he turned to attack you. You put him out of his misery and decided to stand facing him, your sword swung against him which he quickly blocked. The sound of scraping swords would normally bring Zoro great joy, there was nothing he loved more than fighting with them. In this case, it was pissing him off.

You felt exhilarated fighting him, the adrenaline and the rush of memories flooded your mind of the past fights you had with Zoro brought you great joy. Unbeknownst to Zoro, you had spent the last few years getting stronger as you traveled searching for him, spending hours of your life training. You were determined to make him proud.

The fight continued on for some time, you refused to give in even when your muscles has ached and your stamina began to deplete. Zoro took advantage of this once he noticed this, landing his sword onto yours that allowed him to easily twist and disarm you from it, your sword skidding away from you. He pointed Wado out quite close to your throat huffing for oxygen, signaling his victory with a 'ha in your face' smile only to see you had broken out laughing whilst you were also recovering your breath. His smile quickly turned sour, slowly dropping his sword from your throat confused by why you had suddenly started laughing.

Y/N: "That was fun, we should do that again." You spoke out, walking past him to pick up your sword.

Zoro: "You lost and you're laughing?" Zoro questioned as you put your sword back into its sheath. You looked up, nodding at him with the brightest smile you could muster.

Y/N: "Yes, now I know what I need to train on for next time. Thank you Zoro. I'll see you at breakfast!" You gave him a bow of gratitude and walked away from him. Zoro watched, trying to find the right words to express what he felt but found nothing. As he sheathed Wado back, suddenly he groaned, grabbing his head at the sharp ache that sparked in the forefront of his brain. He was now one for experiencing headaches, in fact he couldn't remember the last time he ever had one. The ache disappeared after a few seconds, bringing him back to total normality.

Zoro: "That was weird." Zoro grumbled to himself, putting his feet into action as he headed for bed.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sanji: "Luffy for the last time, that's Y/N's eggs and you've eaten enough to feed all of us!" Sanji shouted at Luffy, you giggled at the antics of your new captain. Luffy pouted as he crossed his arms in defeat.

Y/N: "It's okay Sanji, here Luffy you can have mine." You scraped your eggs off your plate onto his. Luffy's pout now replaced with stars adorning his eyes as he chomped down. Sanji sighed in defeat but would never bring himself to ever lecture you.

Sanji: "Y/N-chan, it's sweet of you to be generous but you need to eat as well." Sanji lovingly said as he walked over to you and placed more eggs from the pan he was holding. You smiled apologetically and got to work polishing off everything on your plate.

As you picked up your cup and slowly began sipping on your coffee, you looked over at Luffy and remembered a question you had for him.

Y/N: "Luffy, may I ask what I'm expected to do now that I'm part of the crew?"

Luffy looked up from his plate to look at you, a bright smile on his face.

Luffy: "What's your dream Y/N?" Luffy asked. You weren't expecting this question, the only person who really knew about your dream was your best friend.

Lily from the village and Zoro. You didn't find your dream to be as inspiring as Zoro's or Luffy's but nonetheless you would tell your new captain.

Y/N: "My dream would be to illustrate my travels around the world. I carry my sketchbook around with me." You answer back feeling a faint blush of embarrassment on your face, not noticing how Usopp's ears perked up in interest.

Luffy: "Then as part of my crew and one of my nakama, you are to achieve your dream and in turn you help me to become the King of the Pirates." Luffy's answer was sufficient enough, you smiled at him nodding in acknowledgment.

Usopp: "You draw too? Can I see some of your work?" Usopp asked, you turned your head to nod at him.

Franky: "Hold on Usopp bro, before you do anything I need to give Y/ N a formal tour of the ship. I hope you aren't as helpless as your husband is with navigation." Franky said, you and the others laughed. As much as you loved Zoro, you couldn't deny he really was terrible with directions.

With breakfast over, you thanked Sanji for the meal, got up and followed Franky around the ship with Usopp. He showed you around the rooms, where the bedrooms were, bathroom and the locker room to put your stuff in. You noticed your locker was placed next to Zoro's which, not surprisingly, looked quite clean.

After leaving the locker room, the three of you were making your way to the deck when you noticed a room Franky hadn't taken you into with a sign 'In Progress'.

Y/N: "What's this room for?" You asked him. Franky and Usopp looked at each other, Usopp scratched his neck as he looked away from you embarrassed while Franky lifted up his right palm to giggle behind it.

Franky: "That room is for you and Zoro, it's not finished yet but it will be soon." Franky said, winking at you. You had completely forgotten about that room and failed to fight the blush blooming on your face.

Franky continued his tour taking you to the deck and to his workshop, proudly showing off his work in development. You admired in awe whilst Usopp promised to show you his factory room later on when "it was safe". You had no idea what he meant by this, the tour eventually came to an end and you thanked Franky for his time.

You made your way back to your shared room with the girls to grab your sketchbook to show Usopp your work. As you were leaving the room with your sketchbook in hand and made your way back to the deck to meet Usopp again, you noticed Zoro emerging from the boys room behind you, sleep evident in his eye. He looked at you, offering a short grunt in acknowledgment and entered the kitchen to see what food was left over for him. You smiled fondly to yourself, continuing up to the deck whilst remembering just how much Zoro loved to sleep.

'Some things never change do they.'

~~~~~~~~~~

Four Years ago — Shimotsuki Village

Lily: "Hey Y/N, are you heading home now?" Lily caught up to you as you were leaving the school building. You turned to acknowledge her with exhaustion evident on your face from the day you've had. You usually would have walked home from school with her but groaned as you remembered you had an errand to run.

Y/N: "l just need to make a quick delivery to the shop for my dad. You go ahead, I'll see you tomorrow. " You promised, waving at her before walking away from the building.

As you walked on the path, you made a quick decision to take a shortcut through the forest to your left off the path to get to the shop. The parcel your dad had given you was hefty in weight and you couldn't wait to feel the lightness in your bag back after spending the day carrying it.

As you walked through the forest, hearing the gentle crunch of grass and leaves under your shoes, a gentle breeze wafted through your hair. You admired the forest, it was one of your favorite places to stroll through to clear your mind when you were overwhelmed. You always made sure to admire what it had to offer you from the brightest of greens in the leaves of the trees to the darkest shades of browns in the soil and bark. You truly felt at peace.

After walking for some time and realizing you weren't far from the shop now, you turned a corner around a large tree when your eyes noticed something under one of the trees. You froze for a moment. You couldn't make out what or who it could be from your distance. Your curiosity got the best of you, deciding to quietly walk up until your eyes could make out that it was Zoro leaning back against the tree sleeping.

Y/N: "Now why would you decide to nap there?" You whispered to yourself. You've never really been this close to Zoro before where you could examine his face as you always chose to keep your distance from him. You took in his tanned skin, noticing how supple it looked, his green hair vibrant. He looked so gentle like this compared to how you usually saw him; enigmatic and cold. You took in his facial features, his closed eyes were soft, his lips parted open and the sound of gentle snoring could be heard.

You knew he was special from how everyone treated Zoro. You were personally too intimidated by him to even look him in the eye. However, you realised he took no notice of all the stares he got from them. You couldn't understand why they were so obsessed with him but you also couldn't understand why you were so drawn to him at this very moment.

Deciding the parcel delivery could wait a little bit, you walked to sit a few trees away from him so as to not disturb him. You quietly dug through your bag and pulled out your sketchbook and pencil.

You spent some time drawing him, taking your time doing so as you had a feeling he wouldn't wake up from his slumber for some time. Some time passed and you stopped after you were satisfied with your work, looking between your work and Zoro. Your eyes paused on him, looking at the still Zoro, not noticing a small smile had crept on your face. Your heart began to thunder in your chest and your face and ears began to burn.

'Ba dum, ba dum, ba dum.'

'Oh fuck.'