The sun was just setting, the blue fading into pink and orange that swirled and confused the line that marked the horizon.

He watched the sky between the shadows of leaves.

He was supposed to be at the docks by mid-afternoon but this island was just so damn confusing. All the streets looked the same and he thought he had seen a fish vendor shoot him a suspicious look when he passed by for the fifth time that hour.

Trees towered over him and he couldn't hear the ocean at all. Maybe it wasn't this way then.

He turned around, grass crackling under his feet against the faint pressure of earth.

A shout in the distance and a flurry of hurried footsteps.

He charged in the general direction of noise and burst out from the bushes into a flood of people sweeping out across the roads.

Flash of sapphire and his eyes latched on to that strip of colour, leading his legs.

"Zoro!"

A single voice standing out among all the rest and the Sunny-go grinned down at him.

The rest of the crew waved him over with impatience; Nami looked particularly pleased with a heap of sacks piled at her feet – it probably had something to do with the way the villagers were rushing at the ship, already starting to drift away slowly.

A jump and his boots hit the solid wood deck just as Franky brought the ship to a roar and shot free from the island and the scramble of people.

Luffy laughed, one hand on his hat, vest whipping in the wind.

He caught his captain's eye, a reflection of himself against a backdrop of indistinguishable sky and sea.

He may get lost but it didn't matter.

He would always find his way back home again.