Author's Note:

The exciting part starts next chapter, when Luffy arrives on the 9th day of Zoro's imprisonment! I could always use some ideas if you guys are interested, too; cute moments you might want to see, devious actions by the (Thus far) mysterious OC, or anything really; I'll tie it into the One Piece plot the best I can, I promise.

I haven't decided either if I'm going to write any pairings, so be sure to give me input!

(Also, thank you to the Guest that wrote the review! I'm working on developing the character more, but I'm going about it slowly and I'm going to be introducing Quinn's point of view more in the next chapter hopefully.)

EDIT: Oops... I'm sorry everyone! I updated the chapter wrong for a minute. The correct one's up now!

Disclaimer:

I do not own One Piece or any of its related content, I own only my Original Character and a few funky plot twists.

Day 5

Zoro blinked his eyes open, blearily taking in the giant smudge of black and white on his left shoulder, feeling soft fur brushing his neck.

"You're… Back,"

He managed between panting.

The sun was merciless today, and although the cat had been giving him food and water, it hadn't been enough to sustain him… Much less when Helmeppo visited again.

This time the bastard had brass knuckles, and the swordsman had multiple cuts and dark bruises along his arms and chest where the brat actually threw a decent punch.

He blinked, his vision coming into focus when his response from the usually carefree feline was an enraged growl, which sounded rather intimidating to come from such a small thing.

The green-haired man got a glimpse at the cat's raised hackles before he felt something rasp along one of his injuries, and his entire form tensed in surprise.

"What are you doing?"

He said, hissing in discomfort when the action was repeated.

The damn demon-cat was carefully licking Zoro's injuries clean, giving no further acknowledgement while the man- though still rigid- allowed it do what it wanted, not that he'd have much other choice.

When the cat gave him a concerned look and went to his other shoulder, the man blinked in surprise as he realized that the injuries stopped bleeding, and sweat and sand no longer stung.

"You're really damn weird sometimes, but you do know what you're doing,"

He muttered when the cat turned to face him, and he didn't protest when he was offered the flask of water.

Ignoring what dripped onto his shirt at the awkward angle, he blinked when the creature turned and brought him a package of sushi that it had abandoned temporarily at the other end of the post in its concern.

Immediately, he noticed that there was a small note on top, with a short but elegant scrawl and nothing else.

Zoro's brow furrowed under the suddenly very interested gaze of the cat.

"Quinn?"

He read, glancing up at the feline in annoyance.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

He grumbled, but the kitty sitting in front of him only stuck out its tongue; Zoro got the distinct feeling that it was amused.

Once again, the sushi disappeared far too fast for his liking, but after the cat collected the cloth square and flask, instead of leaving immediately, it sat down at its customary spot above his left shoulder.

The swordsman scowled at the cat, grateful to at least not be suffering in the heat of the sun alone; not that he'd admit it aloud.

"Quinn… That's your name, isn't it? Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

Zoro frowned in a very sudden feeling of anticipation when the cat smirked.

"Indeed."

The cat responded, his decidedly young and male voice smooth and baritone.

The man's jaw dropped, eyes blown wide as he stared at the creature sitting beside him, face again in a deadpan as though it never spoke in the first place.

"Y-YOU SPOKE!"

Zoro yelled in shock.

The cat smirked, a delighted glint in its vivid eyes.

"I certainly didn't bark,"

The dubbed 'Quinn' replied in quiet amusement, standing up and stretching, the cat jumped down from its perch and made his way back to the wall.

"Why didn't you say something before?!"
Zoro shouted after him, and the cat paused at the top of the wall.

"Would you have believed me?"

In the following silence, the cat departed.

"WAIT! GET BACK HERE AND EXPLAIN!"

Day 6 - Night

Zoro stared at the wall, ignoring the burn of his tired eyes.

He hadn't truly slept since the talking demon-cat's last visit, and he ignored the flare of concern bubbling in his chest when the moon started to dip in the sky, bowing before the approaching dawn.

It would be stupid if someone worried they'd scared someone off.

For someone weaker, indeed.

Persistently, he forced himself to stay awake; he wanted to be alert when the stupid cat showed up.

Naturally he channeled his irritation, grumbling lowly under his breath.

For a good hour he growled at the ropes, the early hour of the morning, the hellcat, the dumb-ass concern that made him restless, the unnatural silence, and for a while he even cursed at a blood stain in the sand, for the sheer audacity of being shed by the marine brat.

His silent ranting was cut short, however, when a group of marines pushed their way into the fortress.

"… wants that cursed thing anyway, he would be better off shooting it."

"Yeah, it did get Helmeppo pretty good back there. If he wasn't so humiliated being torn up we would have been ordered to comb the streets for that hellspawn, be glad we didn't have to."

"Hmph, the blasted cat just about clawed my eye out. The doc said it's going to be leaving a scar. It's just bad luck that we were with Helmeppo when he saw it walking away."

"Consider ourselves lucky it didn't hurt us too badly; or even better, be happy that the poor thing got away. I'm sure Morgan will be hearing about this…"

Zoro paused, pretending to sleep while that passed him; though, when he did glimpse the man with the bandage eyepatch, a vicious smirk curled his lip.

Even if he didn't see Quinn that day, at least the little bastard still managed to keep things… Interesting.

He fell asleep just before the sun began to rise, and he would later never admit to having somewhat of a nightmare about Helmeppo shooting his strange and impromptu ally.

Day 7 - Night

Zoro frowned faintly, stirring from his sleep.

His hands and feet were cold, but his neck and chest- though feeling cramped- was warm.

The swordsman stirred a little more, cracking an eye open, he grimaced as he saw his breath mist a little in the night air that smelled like rain.

"Good evening."

Despite the bone-deep exhaustion he instantly jerked as upright as he could get at the unexpected voice, whipping his head to the left to glare, but the cat's head was too close to his chin for him to see properly.

In fact, the cat- huge for its species- was draped around his neck and shoulders too, soft fur pressed against his skin.

"You!"

Zoro hissed, scowling harshly as he tried to get a look at the creature that remained relaxed on his shoulders.

"Explain yourself! You're a Devil fruit user, aren't you?"

The cat stretched leisurely in place to further agitate the man.

"Perhaps,"

The man growled in annoyance, but he didn't quite complain about the close contact.

"What the hell kind of fruit did you eat? Being a cat seems pretty weak to me."

He grumbled, scowling harshly at the amused rumble he felt resonating from the cat.

"A stealth-orientated one,"

He gave a long, put-upon sigh at the short answers, which turned into a half-smirk at the end.

"That bastard didn't stop by today. What did you do to him?"

The cat gave a very human chuckle, and Zoro raised an eyebrow at the devious edge to it.

"A reminder not to touch others if he wants to keep his hands, and a haircut… And maybe a wardrobe change."

The man let out a bark of laughter, broken off with a yawn; he still wasn't rested after having been awake all night the day before.

"Hmph. You're not so bad, Quill."

The swordsman muttered, beginning to nod off again.

"That's Quinn to you, swordsman…"

Day 8

When Zoro woke up again, it was at a decent hour in the morning.

The hellcat was gone, but his neck and shoulders- although a bit stiff- were still warm and dry, though some of the marines on night watch definitely looked a little damp and miserable.

His stomach rumbled, reminding him that he had missed eating the past two days.

He almost felt kind of guilty for falling asleep on the cat; he definitely missed out on the cooking.

The doors of the fortress banged open, and a few terrified marines scrambled outside.

Watching on in interest, Zoro paused when a new bald figure followed them out, screaming all the while about his father punishing anyone… Who… Laughed…

The swordsman dissolved into a fit of roaring laughter as the now-bald Helmeppo, complete with patches of claw marks and bandage-swathed hands, continued to rage.