Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

Chapter 12: Enter the Pirate Hunter: Roronoa Zoro

"So he finally set out to sea," Nami sighed, a fond look in her eyes.

"Now the journey officially begins!" Brook called out excitedly, his arms up in the air as he danced around. "Yohohoho, such a wonderful thing to see! Look how far our captain has come since then! Truly inspiring don't you all think? Yohohoho!"

"Well, I'll say this much," Sanji smirked, thinking back to that little kid who used to punch himself in the face when he fought. "He's not that brat who couldn't even through a straight punch."

"And that was how he became the monster we all know and love," Usopp said grinning, feeling more at ease than he had been for a long time. But as he waited for the darkness to fade, he couldn't help but let his mind wonder to some of the memories he had seen before. "You know," he said quietly, "I still don't get how it was possible that we could see some of those things. I mean, in some of those parts, Luffy was out cold right? So why were we able to see what was happening? Like when he was attacked by that bear? We shouldn't have seen some of that right? So what was going on?"

"I've been thinking a lot about that too, and it's hard to say for sure," Robin said, folding her arms as she decided to share her theory with them. "It's almost as if we're seeing bits and pieces of Ace's memories as well. But I don't know how that could be possible. There are so many things happening here that I don't understand."

"From Ace's memory?" Nami repeated startled.

"Just like Usopp said, some of those memories we shouldn't have seen as clearly as we did. Such as when Luffy was attacked, or how we were hearing about Garp and Dadan speaking about Dragon... Luffy shouldn't have been able to see or hear any of that... we shouldn't have been able to see that..." she explained softly. "It's almost like a part of Ace's memory is intertwined with Luffy's... though I don't know how else I can explain it."

"But how is that possible?" Sanji asked her. "Ace is..." he trailed off, unable to finish that line.

"I don't know any more than you do at this moment," Robin sighed helplessly. "But that is the only thing that really makes sense to me. It's only a little bit, but there are parts of Ace's memories mixed in here as well."

"What about Sabo?" Chopper asked her in confusion, "I mean, we didn't see any of his memories... at least I don't think so."

But Robin just shrugged, wishing that she had a better answer for them all.

"I'm just glad that we don't have to deal with watching those snot-nosed nobles again," Franky said, folding his arms as well he thought about them with a surge of anger. "I really can't wait to meet them when we go visit Goa."

"Even if they deserve it, we aren't going to hurt them are we?" Chopper asked worriedly, not liking the idea of being a bad guy.

"Of course we won't go that far," Zoro said coolly. "I never intended to go there and attack them like some low-life bandit. I merely meant simply going to stroll through town and make them sweat. If we attack them, we'll be no better than them won't we? I just want them to see that they're not as powerful as they think they are. I'll only attack if they're dumb enough to attack me." But as Chopper looked away, looking relieved, Zoro added in an undertone, "God, I hope they attack me."

Suddenly the darkness disappeared again and they were in a bright sunny day out on the bright, clear-blue ocean. The familiar sea stretched on forever on all sides, sparkling from the hot sun from above—but there was also a gentle breeze that blew over with clouds drifting lazily across the sky.

"It's gorgeous," Nami whispered, smiling brightly, breathing in the salty air—only wishing that she could really feel the sea air on her face. "It's so good to be back on the sea."