One Piece: In the End

The Vice Captain

-Zoro's POV

Zoro found himself walking through a jungle-covered area. 'Walking,' I thought to myself, 'if you could even call it that. I was basically limping at this point. Damn, I suck.' Zoro would never admit it out loud, but he has a terrible sense of direction. As he thought about his terrible sense of direction, Zoro found a slight, un-removable grin on his face. He thought back on all the times the crew had made fun of him and told him how much of a pain in the ass he was when it came to direction. Of course in the moment, it made him uncontrollably mad and flustered, but as he thought back on it now, he couldn't help but smile and laugh a little. No matter how much the crew teases, and makes fun of each other, they really were one, big, pirate family. Of course, there were people in this family he liked more than others. 'Shitty cook,' Zoro thought to himself. He fought with that stupid dartboard a lot, but as much as he hated to admit it, they both cared for each other and the rest of the crew. Zoro laughed again. 'We're like two brothers who don't see eye-to-eye.' You'll never hear him admit that out loud though. This is a side of Zoro you'll almost never see.

A sharp pain in Zoro's side brought him out of his thoughts. He groaned as all the memories of his fight that took place not long ago came flooding back into his mind. Zoro was previously engaged in a battle with the cigar smoking swordsman, Shiryu. The fight against the swordsman was not easily won. They both inflicted major wounds on each other with their swords. Eventually Zoro overpowered the swordsman and found an opening. In an instant, Shiryu's head was cut clean off from his body. Zoro was ok with killing his opponents, but he was normally against something so gruesome as decapitation, but he thought any other death would be too great of a gift for this swordsman. He didn't have any honor or respect for his blades. When swordsman duel, it is supposed to be a fair, no trickery fight. Shiryu did not fight fair. He even tried to use his stupid devil fruit to get the upper hand against Zoro. Unfortunately for Shiryu, Zoro's observation haki was too good. Zoro didn't have to see him to be able to sense where he was. 'You can't rely on a false sense of power in this world.' Those were the only words Zoro said to the swordsman throughout their duel. It was the final words Shiryu ever heard.

Zoro, lost in his thoughts, snapped out of it when he realized, once again, he was paying no attention to where he was going. 'I can't get lost now. I need to make sure the rest of the crew is ok.' Zoro thought to himself. He was now approaching a large, green hill. This seemed familiar to the swordsman. 'Isn't this where we found the One Piece?' He started climbing the hill, having to get on his hands and knees halfway up. 'Man, I could really go for a drink. Somebody on this island has to have some booze, right?' He stood up again once he reached the top of the hill. He saw two people sprawled out on their backs. He tensed up as he realized it was Luffy and Blackbeard. Zoro limped to Luffy's side as fast as he could, but loosened up a little when he saw that Teach was bloodied, and unconscious. He even laughed a little when he saw his captain's infamous smiled painted on his face as he stared up at the sky.

"Well, looks like you defended your title well, captain." Zoro said as he snapped Luffy out of his thoughts.

Luffy's eyes widened and the grin on his face grew when he saw his first mate looking at him.

"Zoro!! I'm so happy that you're alive!" Luffy said with all of the strength left in his body. "I would hug you right now, but I can't exactly move. 'Shishishishi' So, I'm guessing you beat that swordsman?"

"Tch, of course I beat him. He wasn't that big of a challenge."

"Don't lie, Zoro." Luffy said as he examined the wounds all over Zoro's bloodied body.

"Shut up, he was just a warmup. The real fight happens whenever I see that stupid Mihawk again." Zoro said as he sat on top of Teach, using him like a couch cushion.

Zoro snatched the brown bottle from Blackbeard's waist. There was a label on it, but the wording was scratched off. You couldn't even tell it was alcohol, unless you were Zoro of course. Labeling or not, Zoro knew alcohol when he smelled it. Zoro popped the cork of the bottle and began downing the liquor. The booze burned his throat as he gulped it down, but Zoro found the sensation almost soothing.

"Damn, this shit is strong...I like it." Zoro finished the whole bottle in an instant, wishing he had more. That drink was almost as good as sake. Almost.

Zoro and Luffy talked for a long time. They talked about when they met, all the adventures they had, all the laughs and memories they shared and more. They talked about everything that lead up to this moment. They were talking like best friends from high school that hadn't seen each other in years. They shared laughs and moments of silence. At this point, Zoro knew he made the right choice when he decided to pledge his life to his captain.

Eventually, the rest of the crew started to show up, one by one.