Sharp and Sharper. Roronoa Zoro x (fem OG) reader // One Piece fanfiction

our first opponent

Nami must have a very special bond to that map. She hugs it so tightly and is the happiest I've ever seen. At least in the past hour that I've met her. This makes me question her a little bit. I have a slight off feeling about her, but still, I kind of feel like we can trust her. It's weird. Bit of a paradox but I brush it off for now.

Zoro checked the safe one last time. Isn't there supposed to be jewels or gold in a safe? Nami looks at him astounded. "This is more valuable than gold or jewels. This is knowledge." I nod at that. Zoro rolled his eyes and closed the safe.

She unrolls the map for us to see. "Ahh, the grand line! It's right, uhm..." Luffy is lost. "You want to get to the grand line but you don't know where it is?" Nami asks him. She doesn't seem too surprised and neither am I. But Luffy smiles at her. "Guess I'll need a navigator on my crew." "Again, I don't plan on joining your crew. I am merely traveling with you guys until our next stop." She stops for a sec. "But here, let me show you where it is." With that, she leads us back to the room and explains how the map works. I believe she thought Luffy would understand and be able to use it by himself after her explanation. But she's wrong. He did listen but I don't think he really tried to understand. I did though. So, in the case of her really not joining us, I think I might be able to manage.

Suddenly, I got a weird feeling, I started looking around as red smoke started engulfing us. Everyone starts coughing. I try looking for something to cover our faces with but it's no use, I lose my consciousness way too quickly.

We wake up in a big cage. Everyone awakes at around the same time. But to my horror, where are my katanas? My bombs? Even my daggers? Oh, come on! This is terrible! I need those back! "Shit, they took my swords:" Zoro cursed. Nami has lost her backpack with all of her navigational gear. Luffy is glad they didn't take his hat. "Yeah, small blessings" Nami retorts back. I'm sure someone very special to Luffy gave him that hat. It's the most important to him. Just like the daggers my father has handed me, for the case, I'll get my Katanas kicked away. Just like that night of my and Kuina's fight. Or, just like Zoro carries Kuina's sword. I know he took good care of it because I saw it on his belt. I knew he would.
Nami is agitated. "The map! They stole my map to the grand line!" Her map? I mean yeah, I guess she was the one to open the safe but calling it her own is a little selfish. "No, they didn't," Luffy said. He's up to something. The way he said it so indifferently, he must know where it is. "It's in a safe spot." he smiles rubbing his belly. Okay, I don't think I'll be touching the map once it comes out in a couple of days.

Nami looks a little disturbed. She didn't get to say much as someone walked in.
"Welcome!" he says in an unnecessarily loud voice. "Welcome to our circus! And we have a surprise for you! You'll be today's special guest!" He laughs just as loudly. "Now, the captain's already waiting on you!" More pirates who wore this weird circus-themed attire came along and shoved us towards the entrance to the circus ring.

The light was so blinding and the guests were clapping. We stopped in the middle of the ring, and Zoro took that protective step in front of me. I really appreciate the gesture, but in this sense, it really didn't make much sense, since we're in the middle of an enclosed space and the kidnappers are literally running around us. I studied the surroundings. This is no ordinary circus. Well, duh. We wouldn't have been kidnapped and then presented if this was an ordinary circus. But all the circus members ran around and did their assigned thing. I reckon the guests are no ordinary guests as well. They are not here voluntarily. They are chained to the benches, crying while clapping. One of the circus members is holding up a sign to clap. I tried figuring more out as someone stepped in from the other side of the huge tent.

"No, no, no. no!" he screamed. Wow, what an entrance. "This is all wrong! This is not how it was supposed to be!" he is mad. Psychotic almost. What kind of a scary clown is that? I tried to see him more clearly but then he stepped into the circle and it hit me. It's- "Hey, you are Buggy the Clown! I saw you're wanted poster." Luffy remembered. He walks up to us. He introduced himself with various names. Most of which he has probably just made up in the moment. "Woah, you sure have a lot of names. I bet everyone in the east blue knows who you are." Luffy said. The crowd gasped and Buggy lost his smile. "What did you say?" Buggy showed his psychotic side again. What could Luffy have said that- "Did you say something about my nose?!" Ah, I see. Buggy stormed up to him. "Not really. I meant you must be known. But know that you say it, is it real?" He was about to touch his nose as Buggy slapped his hand away. It really does look a little fake, but it must be real. Just the way it's attached seamlessly and I believe to see pores, maybe even a couple of blackheads.

Buggy grabbed Luffy's face. Why did he have to say anything...
"What's real is that we have planned to steal that map for months! And now, that we were about to execute our plan, I heard that I was upstaged by four little nobodies. You really stole it from right under my n- NO! It's in my head now. Ugh!!" Buggy retreated. Hm, that guy really has lost it. And not just that map.
"I'm not a nobody," Luffy said. Ah, here we go again. Surely, he is about to start his speech again. "I am Monkey D. Luffy and I will be Kind of the pirates." Yup. And now, just like pretty much anyone so far, he'll start laughing at Luffy. And so he did. Then he explained to us how it is him, Buggy the clown with his group of freaks, a very sentimental name given by the way, that is destined to find the one piece. Then, of course, he will be king.

Honestly, I am surprised how everyone thinks they'll be king after finding a stupid treasure. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it'll be a great treasure like it's worth a lot and hard to find and so on, but no matter who finds it, I don't think you'll be respected just for that. Especially by pirates. They don't have any kind of respect next to their own captain. Much less for one of their enemies. You'll be hunted down even more because everyone tries to lay their hands on it. Not just pirates, but the Marines and the government and so on.
My thoughts are drifting off again.

I tune back into what's going on but I didn't miss much. Zoro started speaking and walked towards the clown. "I am Roronoa Zoro." He walked with pride and his head held high. "Drop your weapons now and I may let you live." I let my head fall into my hands.
"Ladies and gentlemen. We have a celebrity!" Buggy laughed. I can't believe he really thought that was going to do anything. Even if he could slash everyone here down, why wouldn't he just do so? No one in their right mind would be intimidated by his speech and leave at once.

"Too bad I don't like sharing the spotlight." He stopped laughing abruptly and the light turned to him solely. "My freaks have rehearsed a lot to make this show happen. So, if I can't reward them with this map, I'll have to reward them with a pound of flesh" he laughed again. "Let's get straight to the finally!"

"Wait" Nami chimed in. "What if I have something more valuable than the map." I know this must be another one of her foul tricks for her to escape and leave us behind. I let her have this one though. I think this might actually be our chance out of here.
Buggy seems interested. "What if I offer you, another freak? A rare talent. Most freakishly in all of the east blue, next to you of course." I love the way she wraps her proposals in a sweet layer. She really knows her way around manipulating people. Men specifically. "Go on."

She ripped Luffy's hat off of him and threw it high up in the air. Luffy stretched his arm to catch it safely while Nami made a run for it. I considered running with her, but I couldn't leave the other two. That would be a cowardly thing to do.

There are already men running after her. She was escorted back within a minute. "What did you do?" she screamed, trying to catch her breath. It all makes sense. They must have not worried because there is nothing to run for. That's why all the people are chained in here. They must have raided the town or wherever we are.
"What did you do to their town? You destroyed everything!" Ah, so we are located in a town. "Not everything. I've let them keep their hands." He said like he was the nicest out there. They showed us how the crowd still had their hands, since they had to applaud.

The three of us were dragged to the green room, while Luffy stayed behind. Buggy said he knew it's in a safe place. I think he can imagine where that would be. He has eyes and ears everywhere he said.