The Nightmares of a Swordsman | Zosan

☆ Chapter 11 ☆

"You're letting me go now, huh?" Kuina asked as Zoro opened his eyes.

Location: Unknown

"Kuina?" Zoro got up quickly and walked towards the girl.

"You've caught him..." Kuina whispered.

"Huh?" Zoro was confused by her sudden statement.

"You weren't able to save me, but you were able to save him." Kuina turned away from Zoro and began to walk away.

"W-Wait?! You still have a lot of explaining to do. Why are you here? Why am I always here?" Zoro questioned her.

Suddenly, Kuina stopped walking. She turned to face Zoro, walking towards him. Zoro's heart progressed to beat faster and faster as she got closer to him.

"Hoi Zoro..." Kuina whispered as she gave Zoro a comforting head pat. "You've found happiness now, huh?"

Tears began to form in the little girl's eyes, as Zoro sat there quietly.

"Do your best to protect that man, okay?" Kuina smiled softly at Zoro.

"Does this mean that I'm able to protect everyone?" Zoro asked.

"You will have to find that out yourself." Kuina replied.

"I-I need an answer. You can't just tell me that I'm not able to protect them, then all of a sudden change your train of thoughts." Zoro clenched his fist out of anger.

"Zoro?" A faint voice called his name.

"That voice...Sanji?!" Zoro looked around.

The voice continued to call his name, as Kuina was now, nowhere to be found. It was just Zoro, standing in the black void alone, as the voice of Sanji repetitively got louder.

Time: 7 pm
Location: Crows Nest

"Zoro! Wake up!" Sanji called, as he held onto Zoro's shoulders, shaking him lightly.

Zoro jumped up as he had now realized that he was no longer in a dark void, and was around his well known workout area.

"Sanji?" Zoro called out, as he rubbed his eyes to regain his vision.

"You idiot! I told you not to sleep without me! What if you had another nightmare?!" Sanji yelled at Zoro.

"I know you did, but I wanted to see whether or not I'd have another one when you're not around." Zoro spoke.

"Did you have another one?" Sanji asked.

"I...I don't know. It was a bit confusing." Zoro shrugged at Sanji's question.

"Stupied Marimo." Sanji gave Zoro a bottle of booze. "You made me really worried."

"Sorry..." Zoro took the booze from Sanji's hand.

"Was she there again?" Sanji's expression changed from worried to concerned.

Zoro let out a light sigh. He took a sip of the booze, sat by Sanji on the floor and placed the booze beside him.

"Yeah, she was there, but...She wasn't as bad as she normally was." Zoro spoke quietly.

"What did she say?" Sanji was invested.

"I-I don't know." Zoro replied.

"You don't know?!" Sanji looked at Zoro confused.

"Like I do know but it was weird. You get what I mean?" Zoro looked at Sanji.

"Hmmm, yeah." Sanji remarked sarcastically.

"Really?" Zoro's face lit up.

"No idiot! How am I supposed to understand if you're not telling me shit?!" Sanji shouted.