Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

Chapter 14: Enter Cat Burglar Nami

"You're weak, Zoro... nothing ever changes..."

Kuina...

"It'll be alright. If you can destroy the creature, we'll explain everything to you. Now prove that you're stronger than when you used to lose to me."

Two thousand and one... that's how many times they fought... and it was also the same number of times he lost to her. Zoro always knew that he was weaker than she was. His first goal had merely been to grow stronger so that he could defeat her one day... but every time he got stronger, so did she.

At the time he didn't care how long it took before he would finally beat her. However she had died before they could finally settle it once and for all. Two thousand and one fights... there will never be a two thousand and two...

What he said that night was true in more ways than he thought.

It would be the last time they ever fought...

Once he lost to her again, they vowed that they would race to the top and see who got there first. But then... she died... not in battle, but because she was stupid enough to trip on some stairs and broke her neck. He remembered how furious he had been with her. It was as if she was running away from their vow! Now he was stuck here forced to go on for both of them. His greatest rival was gone.

Since that day, he trained day and night so that he could become the best... and when he finally set off on his journey to fulfill that promise, he decided to merely put it all in fate's hands. Who would've thought that he would be here now?

Countless adventures and immeasurable spirit... that was what made him grow stronger. For the sake of the people he made vows with... he will continue to fight for his dream no matter how long it took or what stood in his way.

"Zoro..." Kuina's voice seemed to echo around him and suddenly his one eye snapped open. Breathing hard, he first thought that he was trapped in the darkness again, but he realized that there were little twinkling lights above him. It took him a minute to realize that those were starts in the night sky...

Sitting bolt-upright, he stared around, and realized that he knew where he was. He was back in those old ruins... The rest of the crew, minus Luffy, was there with him and there was Brook playing his guitar and singing the sorrowful version of Binks Sake.

Chopper heard him move and looked up in time to see him sitting up. "Zoro!" he cried, running over to him as Brook stopped his sad song.

"Zoro," Usopp said looking up, also coming over.

"Are you ok, Zoro-san?" Brook asked in concerned.

"Y-yeah," Zoro admitted, glancing around him. "What happened?" he asked in confusion as he slowly got back to his feet, Ace's and Kuina's voice still in his head. Was that all just a dream?

"Well, we're not sure," Nami said, rubbing her head and staring around at the dark ruins. "We've only been awake a few minutes. But it looks like we're back out of that hole."

"Or lack-there-of," Sanji muttered, pointing to where the large pit had been before, only for them to see as if it had been filled in. "We woke up out here and suddenly we find that it's gone. And our Rubber Brain Captain is nowhere to be found."

"But what happened?" Chopper asked fearfully, "Luffy was still down there!"

"Don't worry. He's safe for now," Zoro said, thinking back, his head pounding slightly. "He's with his brother." They looked up at him, startled, as he explained how he spoke with Ace and what he told him; but he didn't mention Kuina.

"You... spoke with him?" Usopp asked in a stunned tone. "Ace...? As in... ACE?"

"I don't know if it was a dream or not," he confessed, his head finally clearing up, "But if it wasn't a dream, then Ace really did say that Luffy's with him, but he can't bring him back as long as that monster's out there. He didn't say why though."