The Great Sea (One Piece fanfic)

Part 5: The World's Greatest Thief

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"Hey Franky, thanks for the cola!" Cegan called to the blue-haired cyborg. She was sad that Izumi didn't let her drink sake at dinner, but Franky had very kindly offered her some of his cola.

"No problem!" Franky replied, "I run on cola, after all!" He gave the short blonde a thumbs-up as everyone began to file out of the large kitchen. By the time they were finished with dinner, it was already well past sunset. The air immediately became much colder once the sun was down, signifying an autumn or winter island up ahead. Robin went back to the girls' room -- which had inevitably become more cramped with the arrival of two new girls -- to read a book by lamplight. Nami went up to the helm to ensure her course was right, and Usopp and Franky both climbed down to below the deck in order to finish whatever projects they were working on. Luffy went down to the boys' room while Sanji stayed to clean up.

"Hey, Sanji-kun," Izumi called.

"Yes, Zumi-san?" Sanji replied, who was still facing away, washing the dishes from dinner.

"How do you get such cool eyebrows?" Izumi questioned.

"Uhh, I d-don't know," Sanji answered in a wavering tone. Izumi smiled when she heard the blonde chef stuttering.

"You know, I would kill for such epic eyebrows." Izumi wiggled her eyebrows, grinning madly.

"You think so?" Sanji asked, wan obvious blush creeping up from the back of his neck.

"Yep." Izumi stated bluntly.

"You're so nice, Zumi-swan<3~!" Sanji jumped back from where he was washing dishes and twirled around the empty kitchen wearing a creepy expression on his face. Izumi rolled her eyes at his usual romantics. His obsession with women often kept them from having a normal conversation, so she decided the best choice would be to leave.

"Anyway, I'm making Nami-chan a really cool dress so I gotta go!" Izumi spun on her heels and abruptly strode out of the room.

"W-wait!" Sanji called after Izumi, but the purplette was already gone. Sanji thought back to the last words Izumi had told him, and then spoke up again, "But I can't wait to see Nami-swan in such a beautiful dress!"

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Out on the grassy deck, Zoro was about to climb up the ladder to the crow's nest for his late-evening training when he noticed Cegan behind him, wandering aimlessly. He was about to talk to her when she already spoke up.

"Hey mossy, are you about to train?" She asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" He replied casually.

"Nothing," She shrugged, staring at the grass that she poked with her toe. Zoro stopped in his tracks.

"...Why'd you ask?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could... maybe... help me become stronger." Cegan looked up, gazing straight into the swordsman's eyes.

"Oh," Zoro seemed to be at a loss of words.

" We all know that I'm the reason why everything on Driust Island happened... If only I was stronger, then I'd be able to look after myself. Then Izumi wouldn't have to worry about me all the time. She calls me stupid all the time, but we both know I'm not. I'm just absurdly weak, and she tries to hide that fact because she knows I'm afraid of my weakness." Cegan balled her hands into fists as if she were trying to grip onto something invisible.

"Oh," Zoro added once again.

"Please, I beg you, please train me. Help me become stronger." Cegan looked into Zoro's eyes with a pleading stare. He had seen her handle small situations, but not without the help of her devil fruit powers. Zoro knew he didn't have the heart to decline, although everything rational screamed at him to stop; Cegan's determination reminded of Kuina, who was eventually killed because of it. He didn't want to see anyone else get hurt because of their desire to become stronger... However, he saw a bit of himself in Cegan. His blunt nature, stubbornness, and will to grow and become stronger.

"Cegan..." Zoro's voice trailed off.

"Please Zoro, I can't be a burden to all of you anymore." Cegan begged. "Please train me, please help me get stronger!"

Zoro looked into her her eyes that stared back at him, pleading him. Having made up his mind, he turned around and walked away.

"Come on." Zoro began to climb the ladder. Cegan stared at him in shock before following behind him.

'I can't believe that worked... Did I really just convince Zoro to train me?' She thought.

Once Cegan climbed through the trap-door at the top, she looked around at the only part of the ship she had never seen before. There were a few racks with dangerously large dumbbells and assorted weights that ranged from a meager five pounds to over five hundred and a height-adjustable pull-up bar placed off to the side. A large shelf-like bench encircled the spacious crow's nest, and clear windows gave a beautiful view of the stars above as well as the sea below. A telescope stood on the other side of the trap-door, facing out one of the darkened window towards the stars.  Zoro stood there and watched as Cegan became more familiar with her surroundings.

"Where can I start?" Cegan asked out of the blue.

"Let's see how much you can lift." Zoro responded, striding over to a rack of weights. Handing  a pair of ten-pound dumbbells to Cegan, she easily raised both arms. They repeated the action at five pound intervals, until she could barely lift 25.

"I think this is it," Cegan huffed, holding up the relatively small weights.

"Okay, that's a start," Zoro told her. In all sincerity, he hadn't known she was this weak. If he had, he would have felt more inclined to deny the short blonde's plead for help.

However, in Cegan's mind, she was fired up more than ever. She had never wanted to become strong more than now. With Zoro by her side, she felt confident that she would be able to succeed. However, as the night crept along, she realized exactly how painful the training was. After doing countless sit-ups and push-ups, learning a primitive single-sword style and sparring relentlessly with wooden swords, lifting more weights, and testing the speed of her reflexes, she was surprised it was only 3:45 AM when she checked the clock on one of the walls.

"You tired yet?" Zoro asked her in a near-taunting voice. He knew how exhausted Cegan actually was; he could see in her movements and posture that she had very little energy left in her.

"Not at all." Cegan looked into his eyes with a fiery gaze. The both of them were drenched in sweat and out of breath. Zoro had even taken off his shirt, which made it harder for Cegan to concentrate. She couldn't help but linger her eyes on his rippling muscles with every movement he made. Correcting her stance, she charged at the green-haired swordsman with a burst of energy. As he easily blocked each strike and counterstrike, the swordsman couldn't help but notice she was improving at an impressive speed despite her energy running quite low. They continued for a few minutes before Zoro added yet another weight to her sword and she continued again at a slower pace than before.

They kept at it until it was just past four in the morning, when Zoro felt a sudden wave of tiredness wash over him. He took a step back while countering one of Cegan's attacks, and while the blonde wound back for another strike, she quickly stopped herself when she saw the swordsman sleeping while standing up, a snot-bubble blowing out of his nose as he lightly snored.

"I guess it's a bit late, then," Before she could look back at the clock, Cegan let the heavy sword clang to the ground before collapsing forwards, knocking Zoro down as well.

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