Arabian Nights

Chapter 4 -Request

"I see. So that's how it is then." Robin closed up her book, her eyelids drooping in disappointment even though her smile remained.

"Yeah, I'm afraid I can't answer your questions." Zoro stood up from his seat after a thorough discussion over his personal history.

"No, no. It's quite alright. You have rules to follow, I made my own assumptions on what I believed your personal experiences to have been. That was unfair of me. I apologize."

"As long as you don't talk about my goal then everything is fine..." Zoro stared down at her, making it clear that he wouldn't tolerate a breach of trust.

Robin smiled with understanding. "But of course."

The call for dinner made its way into the room where Zoro and Robin were seated. Zoro got up and tugged at the knot in his sash; a nervous habit he'd acquired some years ago when he didn't like where the situation was going. As he began to walk out of the room, Robin stopped him.

"You know," she said, as elegant as ever, "You should tell this to Luffy. He is our captain after all."

Zoro pulled a frown, clearly not too pleased with the idea. "I can't do that."

"Oh? And why is that, if I may ask?" Robin leaned forward and placed her chin in her hand as she closely watched Zoro.

"...I have my reasons." He mumbled before turning, once again, to leave the room. This time, Robin didn't stop him, but thought about why that would be. Even though he'd intended to only give her a factual history of what had occurred, he had spilled his entire past to this woman, he even wound up asking for her assistance. She wasn't sure she had the power to do such a thing, however. All the same, she'd make sure to keep her mouth shut about it. This, she was certain, she could do.

"Zoro, Zoro!" Luffy cried excitedly when Zoro finally emerged from the library. He wrapped his rubbery limbs around Zoro and hugged him tightly. "Can you show me some of your cool genie tricks? They're soooo cooool~ Can you make me a big bronze statue? I've always wanted one~"

Zoro had freaked out when the boy's limbs had stretched and wound around him. He'd never seen anything like it before, and it startled him. The last time he'd been out of his bottle he'd been back home in the east blue. Now, he was apparently on the grand line, headed towards the new world. The world was moving along much too fast for his liking. "Wha-Wha-Wha—What the hell are you?"

Luffy looked a little perplexed for a moment before he smiled. It'd been a long time since anyone had been surprised to see a devil fruit user. "I ate one of the devil's fruits. I'm a rubber man." He stretched his face out to demonstrate, laughing at Zoro's surprised face.

"I...I've heard about those, but I've never seen one before..."

Luffy nodded. "Yup! Robin and Chopper and Brooke have all eaten them too."

Zoro was in awe. He'd heard rumours that some of the strongest people in the world were devil's fruit users. He'd been excited to meet them, to test their strength. But now that he knew that his master possessed the ability, he wanted to see his strength, though he knew very well he'd never be able to lift a hand against him.

"If you guys have gotten this far, I take it you've gotta be pretty damn strong." Zoro folded his arms, quirking an eyebrow and smirking a bit.

"Of course!" Luffy hopped down off Zoro and the genie turned to face him. "If I'm going to be the king of the pirates, of course, my crew's got to be strong!" He nodded to himself as if the very idea of anything but was unacceptable.

"Then I hope my strength will also suffice." Zoro kneeled before Luffy, "The next time we face an enemy, please allow me to demonstrate my strength before you, Master."