Chapter Text
On an island in the New World-
Zoro stared at the spot were Kurt and Logan had disappeared. Having two men completely dissipate in front of his eyes was a new experience, but not the weirdest thing he had seen since he joined Luffy. He shrugged and turned to consider his fallen enemy. It was too large to carry back to the ship, assuming he could find it. He had stopped to take a nap in the first place because he couldn’t find the damn thing. He could break off the legs and claws, lash them together and swim with them around the coast until he found where the Sunny was docked. But then he might run into more of the creatures and while he didn’t mind the work out, it would take too long to fight an army of these things.
He was still considering his options when he heard voices approaching. He put a hand over his hilts, but soon recognized his crew’s voices.
“Where’d he go?” Ussop whined. “I can’t go on. Chopper, leave me here to the insects and wild beasts. Remember me fondly as a brave warrior of the sea.”
“Shut up, long nose,” Sanji ordered, irritably. “Suck it up and walk on your own, stop relying on Chopper. I don’t know why we’re looking for that shitty swordsman anyway. I bet he’d show up on his own in a day or two.”
“I hope he didn’t run afoul of those poisonous snakes we saw earlier,” Robin mused. “If he was bitten, he’d be dead by now.”
“No!” Chopper cried in a panic. “We can’t leave him. Oh my gosh! We have to find him!”
“Relax, Chopper, Zoro’s strong,” Luffy promised, as cheerful as ever. “He’ll be fine.”
“If we don’t find him soon, I’m increasing his debt by 100%,” Nami sighed. “We’re almost to the coast. We’ll look there.”
The party of pirates broke out of the underbrush to find Zoro waiting impatiently in front of his kill. “Took you long enough,” he said flippantly. “Want to help me take care of this crab so we can eat it?”
“Oh, my,” Robin said, stepping around the swordsman to get a better look. “That is a great island crab. They are quite dangerous.”
“Really, Robin?” Nami asked, grabbing the back of Luffy’s shirt to keep him from trying to eat the thing raw. The rubber man was drooling.
“Can we eat it?” Luffy asked, straining against Nami’s grip.
“Yes,” Robin answered her captain before slipping into her teaching voice. “The great island crab can grow to fifty feet across. Its carapace is supposed to be harder than steel and very thick. The real danger though is that they are very territorial. If you wander into the territory of one, it will hunt you down. They have been known to trail ships for miles to sink them, even marine battleships. Even sea-kings don’t bother them.” She considered the carcass speculatively. “How did you manage one on your own?”
Zoro considered bluffing and saying that he defeated the monster on his own; but he was no Ussop. “There were two men, a short one with metal claws and a tall blue one with a tail. They had some kind of gene that gave them powers,” Zoro explained. “They helped.”
“Cool!” Luffy exclaimed, momentarily distracted from the prospect of eating raw crab. “So where are they?”
“They disappeared,” Zoro said shortly. He crossed his arms, bracing for his shipmates’ disbelief.
Luffy whooped. “Mystery people! Mystery people!” he started chanting.
“Come one, Zoro,” Nami scoffed. “They couldn’t have just disappeared into thin air.”
“I’m telling you that is exactly what they did,” Zoro replied.
“Stop being an idiot, marimo,” Sanji said, lighting a cigarettes that he used to gesture around at the beach. “Where could they have gone?”
“They vanished into thin air, shit-cook,” Zoro defended.
Ussop nodded wisely, and Zoro thought he had an ally, until the sniper opened his big mouth. “He’s being modest, I should know. I’m famously modest. You took that crab down by yourself then made up these strangers so as not to make us feel inadequate. Very thoughtful, yes, very thoughtful.”
Zoro growled, “I didn’t make them up. Their names were Logan and Kurt. Logan was about five feet tall and had metal claws that could cut through that thing’s shell. Kurt had blue fur and a long tail that could hold a sword. He used a variation of the three sword style and we were going to spar.” He waved a hand at the crab. “When we finished the crab, I invited them to dinner but they started to fade out. They said good bye and disappeared.”
Sanji scoffed, ready to fight about it, but Robin called him over to where she was examining the crab. “Mr. Swordsman is telling the truth,” she said gently. “You can clearly see where there are three distinct types of marks on the shell.”
The cook examined the marks for several minutes before huffing in annoyance. Without addressing the marks or Zoro, he turned to Luffy. “This thing is too big to take back with us. Let’s bring the ship around here. We can have a barbeque.”
“Yosh!” Luffy cheered, pumping his fists in the air. “A party, a crab barbeque party! Yipee!”
Nami shook her head at their captain’s antics but pulled out the mini transponder snail to call Brook and Franky who were watching the ship. Chopper, Luffy and Ussop started dancing and cheering together while the more mature crew members prepared for the ship and upcoming party.
Zoro watched his nakama with gruff affection. They were a rowdy bunch, but he’d protect any of them with his life, including the shitty-cook. He wished Kurt and Logan could have met them. They had been surprised at his acceptance and they would have been amazed by Luffy’s easy going nature. He shrugged off the thought. He had no time for regret. He’d treasure the memory of fighting with two likeminded warriors and appreciate that somewhere out there, someone else could also wield three swords.