Zoro was making Sanji's rounds for the restock of food on the Going Merry. He'd linger at some stalls for as much as an hour (specifically ones that sold delicious liquors, and others he wouldn't even look at. He stared at Sanji's list, as he got horribly lost at the far side of town.

"THEIF! THEIF!" A little girl ran past Zoro, almost running into him, she ran on ahead as a grizzled old man staggered up behind him, exhausted and out of breath, "That damn brat!" He puffed, "She stole my store's prized possession! Ah well, it'll keep those bad characters out of my shop." He mumbled to himself as he slowly tottered back towards his shop.

Zoro looked back in the direction of the poorly dressed girl and ran off in that direction. He found her outside of town breathing heavily underneath a shanty hand-crafted shack that this girl had obviously built herself.

"Hey, kid..."

"STAY BACK! THIS IS MINE YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!" She held up a dull knife in defense, it was heavy for her, her arms kept shaking. "I—I need it!" Zoro glanced over her shoulder at an orange, unusual looking fruit.

"I just want to know what you stole so I can give the money to the man you took it from. Ok? What's your name?"

"...Tereshi..."

"That's a pretty masculine name..."

"SHUT UP ASSHOLE!"

"What, I'm just telling you what I think."

"Well, your name's stupider than mine anyway!

"You don't even know it."

"Shut up!!"

"..."

"..."

"What did you take?"

"...a—a devil's fruit, BUT I DID IT TO PROTECT MY BROTHER!"

"...Care to explain why you stole such a dangerous thing?"

"If—If I ate a devil's fruit, I would be strong enough to help him, he's already eaten a devil's fruit and is treated like a monster. He's too scared to use it, so if I had it, I would be able to help him! I don't have any friends or family other than him, so I have nothing to lose!"

"Tereshi." A mop of red hair appeared in the bushes the bushes

"Takeshi!?" Zoro looked on as the girl's OLDER brother popped into view.

"Tereshi. Don't."

"But Takeshi, if I don't, then I won't be able to help you, and you'll always have to rescue me! I'm sick of being helpless!"

"You know," Zoro cut in, "I have a shipmate who is strong, and he didn't have to eat a devil's fruit. A pervert like him really shouldn't be that strong." He mused to himself, "Anyway, all you have to do is work hard and build up your skills." He looked at Takeshi, "And if your brother falls in the water he's gonna need someone to save him."

Tereshi laughed, "Yeah, cause he's just a big dummy he'd go and fall in." Takeshi smiled and tussled his sister's messy red hair and handed Zoro the fruit, "Here, Sorry."

"S'ok, I'll just go return it. See ya, work hard."

"I will! Buh-bi!"

*wave*

'Hmm, brother's not much of a talker I guess, well his sister makes up for it.' He thought to himself as he tossed the fruit up and down casually in his hand. The groceries he had carried all that way were getting heavier by the moment. It wasn't easy holding four boxes of supplies, plus the two heavy bags in one hand

"Gotta get back to the ship..." He mumbled to himself. He was almost out of the woodsy surroundings when he realized the fruit hadn't come back down after he had thrown it. "Wha?"

The fruit, which was a little smaller than a baseball and been caught in the beak of a rather large, clearly edible bird. "Free meat." Zoro muttered, but before he could get to it, the bird had opened its beak to caw, and dropped the fruit. Right when Zoro looked up, the fruit flew into his gaping mouth and down his throat, causing him to choke. Eventually the disgusting tasting fruit went down. 'Dear god what have I done!? What the hell's gonna happen to me?"

Zoro ran back to the ship as fast as his legs could carry him, which in actuality was really quite fast. He jumped up on board only to find Nami still guarding the ship.

"NAMI!"

"Nani, Zoro?" said an annoyed navigator. Her peace had been breached so she was back on guard with the idiot swordsman.

"I need your *mew*"

"Zoro? What did you eat?"

"I think I *mew* a devil's fruit!"

"NANIIIII!?!?!?! Zoro, are you SURE it was a devil's fruit?!"

"That's what the girl said but the shopkeeper didn't say what it was..." Zoro meowed again. Nami could see little bumps rising on his head in two spots as the ears on the sides of his head began to disappear.

"Nam-mew!"

"Hang on Zoro, I'm gonna go check out that store and get the details ok!?"

"LOOK OUT!" Usopp called from the dock as most of the crew flew ungraciously into the deck. Zoro darted out of sight and hid in the mikan bushes.

"SET SAIL!" Luffy cried.

"WAIT!" Nami attempted to shout over the noise on deck. Zoro was still crouching under the bushes

"Uwah? Nani? Neh, Nami, where's Zoro?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you he's—"

"MREW!" A small green haired kitten with a white belly came leaping off the upper deck and onto the lower one. The small cat hissed at Nami. 'Oh my god! Is that You Zoro?!' She looked more closely and saw three small holes where his earrings had been. They were well masked by his fur so no one could see them.

"He's still on shore." She figured that he obviously didn't want her to tell ANYONE about his predicament. 'Male Pride...sigh...gets in the way of everything.'

"What? That idiot, at least he brought the groceries. I'll go find him..." Sanji positioned himself to jump off the ship and go look for Zoro.

"NO. Sanji-kun. He's out training. Intensely. He doesn't want anyone to disturb him. He'll kill them if they do."

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do Nami?!" Luffy whined, "I don't wanna stay here."

"He's gonna be out there for a while, we can disembark as long as we return."

"Navigator-san, might I talk to you for a moment?" Nami and Robin left the main deck and locked the door to the Galley. Robin grew an eye to watch for listeners.

"That fruit that was the big discussion downtown have to do with Zoro's disappearance?"

Nami sighed, "Yes, he accidentally ate it, now he's gone and turned into...that!" She gestured to what lay beyond the wall." A commotion had started Nami caught some of the argument but tuned out the rest.

"Hey Usopp can I hold the kitty! You've already tried, now it's my turn!"

"Oi! stop messing with that cat! What if its rabid, I can't have you two getting rabies!"

"Chopper you're so stingy, it hasn't bitten me yet—OW MY NOSE!"

"That's what you get for having such a long nose"

"Shut up Sanji!"

Nami rubbed her head, "Anyway Robin, did you hear anything about the fruit?"

"I did, and what you'll find will surely easy your nerves."