Raphael: <>
System: []
******
"Ugh..." Zoro groaned as he stirred, the rough grains of sand pressing against his skin. Slowly, he opened his eyes and for a moment, his mind was sluggish, trying to piece together the events that led to this point. And then, like a sharp blade cutting through the fog of his thoughts, the memory of what had happened hit him.
He shot upright, his body tense as his gaze swept across the shoreline. Panic surged through his chest as he scanned the area. "Kuina!" he shouted internally, his eyes darting everywhere for any sign of his childhood friend.
When he finally turned around, relief washed over him. There she was, sitting by a small campfire, shivering slightly despite being wrapped in a thick blanket. Her dark blue hair, damp from the sea, clung to her face. She looked cold, but safe. However, what drew Zoro's attention next were the two unfamiliar figures sitting nearby. The first was a boy, younger than Zoro, sporting a wide grin and wearing a straw hat on his head. The second was a girl with eye-catching white and red hair, adorned with strange tattoos that snaked up the left side of her body.
"Kuina, what is going on here?" Zoro barked, his voice cutting through the sound of crackling flames as he stomped over to her. His eyes flicked suspiciously toward the strangers. "And who are these people?"
The boy with the straw hat stood up, beaming. "I'm Luffy," he said with a carefree grin. "And this is my friend Uta." He gestured toward the red-and-white-haired girl, who gave a small nod in acknowledgment.
Zoro narrowed his eyes but before he could respond, Kuina shot him a sharp glare. "Stop being rude, idiot. They're the ones who saved us from drowning!" Her tone was harsh and her eyes flashed with annoyance. "In case you forgot, we're in this mess because of your terrible sense of direction."
"Hey! It's not my fault we got caught in that whirlpool!" Zoro retorted, his voice rising in defense. "And for the record, I'm not bad with directions!"
"Oh, right. So it was my fault?" Kuina snapped, her voice laced with sarcasm. She stood up from her spot by the fire, fists clenched at her sides. "I was rowing the boat! You were supposed to be on the lookout for trouble, but instead, you were probably napping like always!"
"I was not!" Zoro growled, glaring back at her. "And I said it wasn't my fault!"
Meanwhile, on the side, Luffy and Uta were watching their banter with amused expressions on their faces. Especially Luffy, for whom Kuina was quite a wildcard since he had no idea how her personality would be outside of her childhood.
Putting his amusement aside, Luffy observed the two bickering people. Zoro, to his eyes, looked exactly like he looked in the pre-timeskip manga and anime, a lean man with little muscle and green hair. Kuina, on the other hand, was totally different from what he had imagined she would look like.
Kuina, in front of him, had short dark blue hair, barely reaching past her ear. She was taller than Zoro and had a muscular build evident by her muscular arms visible due to her attire, which consisted of a sleeveless, turtleneck, and pants. If Luffy was being honest with himself, this version of Kuina reminded him of a certain female character from the anime he had watched in his previous life.
Their heated argument was starting to escalate when a dry voice cut through the tension. "Are you two done?" Uta asked, her eyebrow raised in annoyance. She crossed her arms, clearly not entertained by their bickering.
Both Zoro and Kuina fell silent, exchanging a glance before grudgingly sitting back down by the fire.
Luffy, who had been watching with a grin, slid a crate of fruits toward them. "Here, eat something," he offered casually. "Might help calm your heads down."
Kuina was about to politely decline. "No, thank you. We already—" But her words trailed off as she saw Zoro already reaching for an apple. "Zoro!" she hissed, her eyes narrowing at him.
"What?" Zoro replied innocently, biting into the apple. "He offered." He shrugged, entirely unbothered by her glare.
Kuina could only sigh in exasperation, reluctantly grabbing a fruit for herself. "Thank you," she said, her voice softer this time as she glanced at Luffy and Uta. "For this... and for saving us from the sea. We owe you," she said while Uta and Luffy nodded acknowledgment.
Then after a long stretch of silence, Luffy leaned forward, breaking the quiet with a curious question. "So, what's your story?" he asked, his eyes twinkling with interest. "How'd you two end up here?"
"That came out of nowhere..." Kuina raised her brow. "Why do you want to know?" she asked skeptically. "Not exactly something we share with strangers."
"I am just saying," Luffy shrugged. "I mean since you don't have a way to get out of this island on your own, you are stuck here until Uta and I decide to leave this place. So since we are stuck with one another anyway, might as well get to know each other. Right?"
"Wow, your excuses are almost as bad as this idiot's sense of direction," Kuina scoffed, jerking her thumb toward Zoro, who glared at her in response. She turned back to Luffy. "Fine, but if you want our story, you should start with yours."
Luffy shrugged and began to tell his life story, carefully omitting key details about important figures like Garp and Shanks. Uta occasionally chimed in, adding tidbits from her own perspective as she grew up with him and didn't feel any need to narrate her own story separately. He continued talking for half an hour, eventually recounting his defeat of Morgan and how it led him to this island for training. "That was our story. Now it's your turn," Luffy said.
"I'm going to become the greatest swordsman in the world," Zoro said as he was already halfway through his tenth apple. He then continued wiping his mouth. "After that, I have to go to Wano and reclaim my family's honor."
"Wano?" Uta repeated, her interest piqued as she remembered hearing that name from Shanks before. "You are related to that place?"
"Yeah, apparently my family used to be a bigshot from some place called Wano," Zoro leaned back, a hint of indifference in his voice. "Apparently 20 years ago, something happened that forced my grandfather to flee Wano. A few years ago, on his deathbed, he had made me promise that once I achieve my dream, I would go to Wano to reclaim my family's honor or something."
'Huh, interesting...' Luffy thought as he heard Zoro's words. 'In the manga, Zoro had a minor connection to Wano, but the main story never explored it. It seems it's going to be different here.'
"Cool," Luffy said before turning his gaze toward Kuina. "What about you? You want to be the greatest swordswoman too?"
Kuina's expression darkened. "No," she replied, her voice heavy with bitterness. "According to my old man, women can't be the strongest with a sword." Her fists clenched tightly. "So I'm going to piss on that belief of his and prove him wrong. Instead of just mastering one single weapon, I'll become a master of every weapon I can find. The greatest weapon master on the seas."
Uta blinked in surprise. "That's... quite a goal," she said, impressed. "How many weapons have you mastered so far?"
Kuina smirked. "The polearm is my best weapon. After I swore never to touch a sword again, I picked it up. I've got decent aim with a bow, and I know my way around guns and daggers. That's all for now I guess since I haven't come across anything unique so far."
Then a few more minutes of idle chatter, Luffy decided to ask something he wanted to ask for a while. "So, what are you two going to do next?" he asked, his gaze shifting between Kuina and Zoro. "I mean, we're heading to Orange Town tomorrow. We can drop you there, but... what's your plan after that?"
Both Kuina and Zoro exchanged uncertain glances, realizing that neither of them had money or a means of transportation once they separated from the two people in front of them.
Kuina let out a long sigh and frowned slightly, locking eyes with Luffy. "What exactly are you trying to say?" she asked, her voice edged with suspicion. "Get to the point already."
"Since both of you don't have much going on right now, why don't you join Uta and me on our ship?" Luffy grinned, leaning back as if what he had just said was the most natural thing in the world.
The moment the words left his mouth, Zoro immediately shook his head. "Nah, we're good," he replied bluntly. "We don't want to become pirates."
"Geez, we haven't even hoisted a flag yet, and people are already calling us pirates," Uta, sitting a little to the side, raised an eyebrow and spoke in a dry, sarcastic tone.
"Oh, please. Anyone who doesn't align themselves with the World Government or Marines' beliefs will be labeled a criminal sooner or later. And you two won't be any different," Luffy chuckled, though there was a knowing glint in his eyes. "The moment you start making a name for yourselves, you'll be forced to choose: either join them or be hunted down until you're in Impel Down or at the bottom of the sea."
Kuina crossed her arms, her brows furrowed in skepticism. "You seem to know a lot about these things for someone your age," she remarked, not fully believing Luffy's words.
Luffy just shrugged, a cryptic smile playing at the corners of his lips. "Yeah, I do," he said simply, without offering any further explanation. "But don't worry, the way you are now, they won't even bother looking your way. You're not worth their attention or effort yet."
Suddenly, both Zoro and Kuina's expressions darkened. Their eyes narrowed dangerously as they glared at Luffy.
"Are you trying to call us weak?" Kuina's voice had an unmistakable edge of anger to it as her pride stung at the insult.
Luffy met their glares head-on, completely unfazed. "I'm not trying to say anything," he replied matter-of-factly. "I'm saying you're weak right now. The way you are now, you'd have a hard time surviving on the first half of the Grand Line."
"That's why I'm inviting you two to join my crew," Luffy offered, making his intentions clear without sugarcoating his words. "I see potential in both of you, and I've got resources that can help you grow. With your skills and a little help from me, you could reach heights that would take most people years to achieve."
Kuina and Zoro sat in silence for a moment, processing Luffy's words. They exchanged another glance, both weighing the offer, but before either of them could respond, Kuina broke the silence. "What kind of resources are you talking about?" she asked cautiously.
Luffy grinned. "Instead of telling you, why don't I show you?" His eyes gleamed with mischief as he stood up, brushing the sand from his pants. "Let's make a bet. Tomorrow, I'll take both of you on in a two-on-one fight. If you win, I'll give you enough money to buy a boat and set you on your way. But if I win..." His grin widened. "You both join my crew."
Zoro's eyebrow twitched at the suggestion, but before he could refuse, Kuina spoke up. "I'd take that bet," she said, "but I don't have my weapon. It got lost somewhere in the sea."
"Oh, I can help you with that," Luffy said, reaching behind him and, with a swift motion, producing a pair of shining weapons. Two beautifully crafted sai glinted in the firelight as he tossed them toward Kuina. "Here, you can use these."
Zoro's eyes widened in disbelief as he watched the weapons appear seemingly out of thin air. "How the hell did you do that?" he exclaimed.
Luffy waved him off casually. "Don't worry about it. It's just one of my abilities," he said with a dismissive shrug. Then he turned back to Kuina, who was already inspecting the sai with clear interest. "They're called sai," Luffy explained. "Get familiar with them and use them against me tomorrow."
"Are you sure you want to give these to me?" she asked, her voice laced with genuine surprise, though her eyes never left the sai in her hand. "They look brand new, like they've just been forged."
"Yeah, I don't mind," Luffy shrugged again with a smile. "Neither Uta nor I have any use for them. And even if I lose tomorrow, you can keep them. Consider it a gift for going along with my little challenge."
Kuina glanced up at him, and for a moment her expression softened. "Thank you," she said in a sincere voice. "I'll take good care of them."
Luffy nodded, then turned to Zoro. "What about you? Lose anything important to the sea?"
"Yeah, one of my swords," Zoro said, rubbing the back of his head. Honestly, Zoro was just glad that the sword he lost in the sea was just an ordinary sword he had picked up from some pirate they had killed for bounty and not Wado Ichimonji, his main sword that had been entrusted to him by his master to carry on his legacy. "But it's not a problem. I can still use two swords equally proficiently."
Luffy shook his head. "No, that won't do," he said, and once again produced a weapon from thin air. This time it was a katana that he had received after his encounter with madwoman Imu. "Here, use this. Although this isn't as unique as the sai that I gave to Kuina, I think it will do the trick," he said, handing the sword to Zoro.
Zoro took the sword from Luffy's hand, inspected it, and came to the conclusion that the sword in his hand right now was leagues better than the one he had lost. Then he looked at Luffy and couldn't help but ask, "What kind of pirate are you?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Luffy asked, sounding genuinely confused.
"Don't play dumb!" Zoro snapped at him. "This sword's worth at least 15,000 Berries, and you're just handing it out like it's nothing!"
"Wow, I didn't know it was that expensive," Luffy muttered to himself, which only enraged Zoro even more. 'How was I supposed to know that this sword would be worth so much? The description said it was just a regular katana without any special effects.'
'Makes sense,' Luffy nodded to himself before addressing Zoro. "Listen, I don't know why you're getting angry, neither do I care. Just tell me if you want this sword or not?"
Zoro growled, but then sighed, knowing it wasn't worth getting worked up over. "Fine, I'll take it," he muttered. "Better me than you giving it to some idiot who doesn't know its value."
Luffy grinned. "Great! Now get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be a big day... for you two, at least." He gave them a cheeky smile before heading back toward the boat, Uta trailing behind him.
"Good luck," Uta called over her shoulder. "You're going to need it."
As Luffy and Uta disappeared into the darkness, Zoro turned to Kuina. "What do you think?"
Kuina looked down at the sai in her hands, a small smile tugging at her lips. "They seem like good people," she said thoughtfully. "As for the bet... I'm not sure. I haven't seen Luffy fight yet."
"Well, he does look fairly strong for someone of his age, but I couldn't see where his confidence is coming from," Zoro said, folding his arms across his chest.
"Neither do I. But don't underestimate him, there has to be some source behind his confidence, and we don't want to get off guard," Kuina warned Zoro. "Now let's sleep. I have to get up early tomorrow and practice these sweet new weapons," she said, starting to head towards Luffy's boat as Zoro followed behind her.
To be continued...