Eat At Baratie!
1.5
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Te Amo, Mi Amor
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Roronoa Zoro never panicked, ever. He was a pirate hunter, the pirate hunter. For god's sake, he could never panic. Pigs would fly before he panicked, ships would sail backwards, before he ever panicked.
The world would burn before he panicked, but right now it did, his world was burning,
and it was about to catch on fire.
After Valeriña passed out everything was a blur for Zoro.
But he remembered one thing, chaos.
He remembered catching Valeriña, he remembered all of the crying kids, he remembered the yelling and screaming of the anxious crowd, he remembered the parents of the little girl sobbing with grief as they held their dead child, he remembered trying to clean the blood off of Valeriña, he remembered Nami yelling in his ear, he remembered how everyone had panicked, trying to leave as quickly as they could, he remembered picking her up and taking her to the ship, he remembered Nami telling him to try and find Luffy, and now the last thing, he remembered panicking.
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When they couldn't wake Valeriña, Nami forced Zoro to come to find Luffy, when all he wanted to do was stay with Valeriña, but after getting shoved out of the room, he didn't exactly have a choice.
They both went back to where they were, the people were still anxious but things were slowing down a bit.
A still drunk Usopp walked towards the duo, who were looming for him. "Guys meet my new best friend." "Usopp, we have to leave." Nami spoke hurriedly, ignoring the man behind him.
"No, no, not yet. Meet my friend- uh What did you say your name was again?" Usopp asked the man but he interrupted. "Which one of you is Monkey D. Luffy?"
Nami spoke to the strange man. "Who wants to know?" But before the man could answer, Zoro spoke.
"You're Dracule Mihawk."
The man did not confirm nor deny. "I have business with your captain. If you know what's good for you, you'll hand him over."
Nami defended Luffy, secretly, just wanting to get back to Valeriña. "We don't know anyone named Luffy. Right, Zoro?"
He didnt answer, only looked at the man, hiding his shock, he spoke quickly.
"We- I've been following your career since I was a child. It's an honor to finally meet you, sir."
The man thanked him. But Zoro didn't wanna be thanked, if Valeriña couldn't finish their promise, he would, for her.
"Which is why it pains me to inform you that tomorrow... your going to die." Zoro walked away from Namis side, towards the man.
Nami jumped up at his words. "Wait, what?" Usopp stared in shock, still very drunk.
"I, Roronoa Zoro, challenge you to a duel, to the death." Usopp and Nami stared at Zoro in shock. "Ive never heard of you." Mihawk said, smugly, to Zoro.
"They call me the Demon Pirate Hunter. But my lifelong dream is to best you in single combat and become the greatest swordsman in the world."
Mihawk scoffed. "You're serious?"
Zoro replied with a straight face. "Accept my challenge. You'll see how serious I am."
Mihawk walked to Zoro, talking, before looking at Valeriña. "Very well. Tomorrow at dawn. And when I'm done with you, pirate hunter, I'll take your captain."
Mihawk walked away, Nami and Usopp looking at Valeriña and Zoro. "What the hell did you just do, we need to worry about Val?!" Nami yelled at him.
Zoro ignored her, taking off back to the ship, he heard Usopps last words.
"Wait- what's wrong with Valeriña?"
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Zoro was currently in the kitchen, cleaning and sharpening his katanas, he had ditched one of his regular katanas, and was cleaning the one Valeriña got from Kuina.
He picked it up with shaking hands, he started to sharpen it, ignoring his hands, but he fumbled with it and he cut his hand. "Fuck." He mumbled.
He looked up at the room Valeriña was in.
"Fuck!"
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Zoro went back to sharpening his swords, he had set Valeriñas on the end of the table, trying not to look at it, and the small bit of blood that was on the blade.
He had wrapped his hand, he knew it needed stitches but he couldn't do them, only Valeriña could.
"Maybe you can convince him to call it off." Zoro heard Nami state to Luffy, as he, Usopp, and her walked into the kitchen area.
"I won't do that." Zoro spoke, not looking at anyone.
"Did you see the size of that guy's sword? He will slice you into sashimi." Nami spoke up to the ignorant boy, before Luffy confusionly asked.
"What's going on?"
Nami spoke before Zoro could.
"I'll tell you what's going on. Your other first mate spassed out or something, and passed out, and now she wont wake up. And your big, bad Marine grandpa send a Warlord of the sea to bring you in, and instead of getting the hell out of here when he had the chance, your stupid first mate here challenged to duel."
"Which he accepted"
Zoro spoke up, ignoring her words about Valeriña.
"Wait- what happened with Riña? Is she alright?"
Zoro ignored Luffy.
Nami spoke up. "She left the table, out of the blue, and passed out when everything crazy was happening.
Nami then looked at Zoro and spoke. "You are a fly to him. Something to be swatted and forgotten."
"Not if I win."
Nami looked away from Luffy and towards her. "You're not going to" "You don't know that."
A still, somehow, drunk Usopp spoke up, trying to break the tension. "Guys, guys, maybe we need more drinks." Zoro glared at him, making Usopp look down.
"Tell your first mate that he'll get himself killed."
Zoro was pissed Nami was up in his buisness. "Tell your navigator to fuck off" Luffy glanced between the two, shaking his head.
"Maybe this isn't such a great idea, Zoro. Think about Valeriña.'' He spoke to Zoro hoping Valeriña would get to him. Nami shrugged slightly, her point made, before folding her arms.
"When you met me tied up on that cross, what did I say?"
" 'What makes you think I wanna play with you pirates?'" Luffy replied to him, his exact words. "No, the other thing." "'We kill your kind for a living.'?"
"No. Come on.." Zoro mumbled at him , upset that Luffy wouldnt understand why he needed to go do this.
"Oh." Luffy said. "That you made a promise to someone a long time ago to be the world's greatest swordsmen?"
"The only way to do that is to beat Mihawk in a duel and take his title. i intend to do just that." Zoro told Luffy.
Nami spoke, worried and annoyed they wouldn't listen to her. "Even if you, die in the process? Do you know how pissed Val would be?"
Zoro looked away. "I have my chance to honor Valeriña, im not losing it."
"Will you please do something?" Nami asks Luffy hurriedly. He watched Zoro, before looking at Nami with a fake smile. "Its their dream, Nami. I can't get in the way of Zoro's dream, especially when it involves Riña."
Nami gave up with Luffy looking towards the stubborn boy. "What's it gonna take, huh? You want me to say you're the best? You two are the best. Okay, you and Val. You two are the best I've ever seen, but you are not better than him."
Zoro ignored her, packing up their katanas, ready to leave the room. "And if you fight him tomorrow, you're going to lose."
Zoro stopped and looked at her. "Why do you even give a shit?" "Because you're my friends, you idiot." Nami said softly, but firmly to them.
Zoro spoke up. "You said it yourself. You don't have any friends." Nami stared at Zoro in shock, before looking at Luffy for a split second, then she walked out.
Luffy gestures for Usopp to leave before he speaks to Zoro. "Was you know what Riña?"
Zoro nodded. "It's never happened before, i don't even know what happened. One second she was fine, the next she took off, fell against a wall, screamed, then passed out." Luffy looked confused, about to speak, but Zoro interrupted.
"Luffy, she might've killed that girl."
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"Te amo, Lía"
"Te amo, Ro"
Zoro was sitting, his katanas in his sheath. All but one.
He was staring at Valeriñas' katana that was resting on the table, the same spot from earlier.
He knew Luffy was in there right now, talking to her unconscious body.
He subconsciously rubbed the white cloth that wrapped his cut, red was staining the cloth, as he pressed down on it.
He looked over the simple but beautiful katana. The small dagger, he always kept in his pocket, now felt heavy.
Plink!
He was snapped from his thoughts when he heard a drop of blood fall onto the floor. He looked down at his hand, the white cloth was mostly red from blood, and it was dripping.
He should have rushed to grab another cloth, but instead he let the blood drip, only going to press his thumb to the cut, causing himself more pain.
A small towel was set on top of his hands. Zoro looked up, it was Luffy. He nodded at Zoro, then glanced at the katana on the table.
Zoro looked down at the sword, he slowly stood, walking away from the table, he walked over to the room Valeriña was in.
He paused outside the door, glancing back at Luffy.
Luffy nodded one more time at him, Zoro walked in.
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Translations:
Te amo - i love you
Mi amor - my love
An: kinda a short chap, also it sucks but whatever. I looked away for 2 days and SOS is almost up to 4k views!! Thats just crazy to me. Anyway im working on tons of stories and school, plus Christmas decorating, so i am swamped so i apologize for not posting puppet and missing posting days on this story. Also i was too lazy to find a better gif so it sucks.
Bye :)
1697 words