Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Oda Eiichiro.

Chapter Three:

(Two years after Zoro's departure from Kuraigana Island)

"I will be setting sail tomorrow morning," Mihawk announced at the breakfast table.

"For how long?" Perona inquired conversationally as she applied butter to her toast. It wasn't unusual for him to leave the island every now and then. The man was a Shichibukai. He had things to do. Even though she still didn't particularly like being completely alone, she had gotten used to it.

"I'm not certain, yet. It all depends on how quickly I can find the one I seek." He glanced over at her then. "Would you like to come along?"

That was unusual, and it caused her to pause what she was doing and return his gaze. Normally, he would either just go do whatever it was he needed to do or, if he wanted her to accompany him, he would simply tell her to come along. For him to ask was a bit out of the norm. "Where are you going?"

"I believe it's about time I go check on the boy's progress," he said straightforwardly. "See how much he's improved during his time in the New World."

Her knife clattered to the table, and she swiftly picked it up and resumed her task of butter application as though nothing had happened. Even though his name was not mentioned, she knew exactly who 'the boy' had to be.

The swordsman made no effort to call her out on her sudden clumsiness. "You could be my second set of eyes," he went on to say. Perona had been present throughout the duration of Zoro's training. Aside from himself, she would know best what level of strength Zoro was at when he had left the island. "Is that reason enough for you to make the trip?" he asked, a knowing smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

She kept her eyes averted as she took a deep breath and heaved a dramatic sigh. "Since you asked, I guess I can put off some of the things I had planned to do and come with you."

"If it's too much trouble, then—"

"No! It's—" She stopped her interjection short when she realized she had somehow unknowingly jumped to her feet in her excitement. She cleared her throat as she planted herself back into her chair. Taking a calming breath, she tried again. "I can work around it."

It was difficult, even for the great Hawk-Eyes Mihawk, to not at least chuckle a little at the girl's antics. "Tomorrow morning, then. Be ready to leave by dawn."

When Usopp first caught sight of the pair of lights flickering on the water's surface, his initial thought was they must be reflections of the stars in the sky. The only thing was, it was a cloudy night and there was a light layer of mist hovering over the ocean. The stars weren't even visible, let alone their reflections. Seeing as it was his turn to keep watch, the sniper immediately reached for the telescope to further investigate.

The flickering lights turned out to be flames, confirming his suspicions that something was indeed amiss. And if his eyes weren't deceiving him, it looked like they were…candle lights? As the flames came closer, whatever it was that was coming their way began to emerge from the fog and take shape. Usopp's grip tightened around the telescope when he saw what it was: a small coffin-shaped boat with room enough for just one seat.

He recognized the boat immediately. He had seen it before…back before they had even made it to the Grand Line. Even though it was too dark and the craft was still too far for Usopp to make out the features of the man sitting in that seat, he knew exactly who that man was.

Abandoning the telescope, he leaned out the window of the crow's nest and hollered at the top of his lungs. "Zoro! Get up on deck right now! Hurry! Zoro!" He climbed down to the deck and called out for the swordsman once more before placing himself on standby with his slingshot in hand. One could never be too careful. There was no telling whether Hawk-Eyes Mihawk was coming as a friend or a foe. The Straw Hats were pirates, after all, and Mihawk was a Shichibukai.

By the time the Coffin Boat came up beside the Sunny, Usopp's jaws just about hit the deck. Beside Mihawk, sitting on one of the armrests of the boat's only seat, was a classy looking young woman with long pink tresses holding an umbrella over her head. If not for the ghosts that were floating languidly around the Coffin Boat, Usopp would not have recognized her. "…the ghost girl from…Thriller Bark…" What was she doing here?! And why was she with Mihawk?

Before the sniper could speculate further, the girl in question had already levitated herself off the boat and floated up onto the Sunny's deck. Paying no mind to Usopp's gaping stares, Perona took interest in her surroundings instead. The ship looked pretty much the same as the way she'd remembered from her brief encounters with it at Thriller Bark and Sabaody Archipelago. When her eyes finally turned to Usopp, she frowned after giving him a once over. While the ship remained much the same, this guy was another story. "What happened to you, Long Nose? You look even less cultured than the last time I saw you. Did you devolve?"

"WHAT?!" Usopp exclaimed indignantly. Why did he have to be insulted on his own ship by someone he had defeated years ago? He had to stand up for himself! "You don't know anything! It's the ruggedness of a seasoned warrior of the sea! Don't forget that I won our match on Thriller Bark! And I'm even more formidable now than I was then, so you better watch out!"

"Negative Hollow!"

Usopp slumped his shoulders and hung his head. "I'm sadder than a dung beetle…"

Perona tilted her head slightly in contemplation. Her attack had actually taken some mild effect. "Yes, it does seem like you've developed a better outlook on life. Congratulations. Horo horo horo horo!"

Once he recovered, Usopp gritted his teeth with agitation as he shot her a glare. "What business do you have here?"

"Perona?"

She would have continued the banter with Usopp, but that familiar voice captured her attention. She turned to find Zoro coming unhurriedly towards her with a slightly confused, slightly curious, but mostly bored look on his face. Behind him, the other Straw Hats were also emerging onto the deck one after another.

"What're you doing here?" Zoro continued.

Completely blasé. It was so like him. Perona responded in kind, sighing with an air of carelessness before giving her reply. "I came to see how long it'd take for you to get slaughtered."

"Huh?" He frowned in earnest. It hadn't even been ten seconds, and she was already trying to get his goat. It was so like her. He would have demanded an explanation, but that became unnecessary when he saw the man approaching from behind her.

"Roronoa Zoro," Mihawk began as he wrapped his hand around Yoru's hilt and pulled the long blade from its place on his back, pointing it at the younger swordsman. "Unsheathe your swords."

Zoro smirked. He heard that loud and clear.

As the two swordsmen dueled on the lawn deck, everyone else watched from the upper decks.

"This is so exciting!" Luffy said with a laugh as he adjusted his straw hat and leaned over the railing.

"But they're moving so fast," Chopper said, observing from between the rails. "My eyes can't keep up with everything."

"Hey, are you guys sure it's a good idea to let those two fight on the ship?" Usopp couldn't help but put the question out there. "I mean…that Mihawk can slice a ship in two with a swing of his sword. What if he accidentally swings too hard? We could drown!"

"You don't have to worry about that," Robin responded. "The water temperature is too cold at this time of night. We're more likely to freeze to death instead of drown," she explained straightforwardly.

Usopp wanted to cry. He could always count on Robin's uncomforting words.

"I bet Zoro's probably had the ability to split ships for a while now, too," Nami put in as she folded her arms, "but he's never sliced the Sunny by mistake. It's all about control, and they've got plenty of it. Stop being such a wuss."

That didn't make Usopp feel any better. Sure, they'd have plenty of control when dealing with small fries. But when it was the world's greatest swordsman versus the man with the potential to be the world's greatest swordsman…they'd probably lose some of that control. He turned his attention to Perona who was standing a few paces away from their group. "Oi! You've seen them fight before, right? Do they get crazy and tear up their surroundings?"

She didn't respond.

"Oi, ghost girl!"

The truth was, she didn't even hear him. Perona was completely absorbed by the match. All she could see was the clashing between the two swordsmen. She didn't claim to know much about swordsmanship, but even she could tell that they were fighting on a completely different level compared to how they used to fight on the island. Was it because Zoro was that much better now than he was back then? Was it because Mihawk wanted to take it to the next level? Or was it because they were both seriously trying to take each other out now that they weren't in training mode anymore? She wouldn't put it past either of them to think that way, since she had come to believe that all swordsmen were idiots. It was making her anxious that she wasn't sure what their intentions were for this fight. She really did try to keep her emotions contained, but after a while, she simply couldn't hold her tongue anymore.

"Watch it, you dumbass!" Perona suddenly yelled, startling the spectators beside her.

"I am watching it!" Zoro responded without missing a beat or looking away from his opponent, surprising the group further.

Perona gripped the railing with agitation. "You call that watching it? You nearly got your head lopped off! Twice!"

"Shut up and let me fight!"

"Fight properly, and I'll shut up, moron!"

"Just butt out already, damn it!"

Sanji blinked, his cigarette falling from its place between his lips. He was the first to realize. "I can't believe it…" He had gotten used to Zoro making random exclamations in the midst of their sparring matches. The guy was doing pretty much the same thing now except, this time around, Sanji could hear the voice at the other end of the conversation. Never would the cook have guessed that it would be the voice of a pretty lady. He turned his attention to Perona with disbelief. "…that sly Marimo…"

Robin gave a light chuckle, Zoro's vague explanations about being haunted by a ghost finally making sense. "So, that's what it is."

"I'm so glaaaaaad!" Chopper wailed with tears in his eyes as he hugged Robin's leg. "It's not schizophreniaaaaaaaaa!"

Pretty soon, one after another, heads started to turn toward the pink-haired former enemy with features reflecting various degrees of shock or curiosity as she argued heatedly with their green-haired swordsman as though it was a routine activity. Her concern for their crewmate's wellbeing was obvious in her body language despite the scathing words coming out of her mouth.

Luffy turned left and right, seeing his entire crew with knowing looks on their faces. "What's going on?" he asked, completely puzzled.

Before long, the duel on the lawn deck wrapped up with Zoro on the ground, relieved of two of his three swords, and Mihawk standing over him with the tip of Yoru held at a hair's breadth away from Zoro's throat.

"You still have a long ways to go," the Shichibukai said. "However, your progression did exceed my expectations."

To that, Zoro could only smirk. "Then it probably won't be as long a ways to go as you think."

The corner of Mihawk's lips tilted up slightly. "Perhaps. We shall see."

Perona released a breath she didn't realize she had been holding, silently relieved that they were both still breathing. Her watchful eyes assessed both swordsmen's conditions as they exchanged a few words out of everyone's earshot. Then she saw Zoro climb to his feet and head for an entrance into the lower decks with one hand covering a particularly nasty cut on his bicep. Mihawk, on the other hand, began making his way up the stairs to where the rest of them were currently gathered.

"You're taking this rather calmly," the master swordsman noted, his gaze directed at Luffy. "Not worried I might actually take his life this time?" While he didn't give Zoro any life-threatening wounds like the first time they had dueled, the only other time they had fought in Luffy's presence, the damage he had dealt to the younger swordsman was still no laughing matter.

"Zoro won't die so easily," was the proud reply the Straw Hat captain put forth. "And if you did cut him down…then we just won't let you off the ship." There was no malice in his words. In fact, he said it all with a wide grin.

"Oh?" Mihawk would be lying if he said he didn't find those casually confident words amusing. "We can still fight, regardless." He had time to kill anyway.

"No," Luffy replied without even giving it any consideration. "This is Zoro's battle," he declared, folding his arms for emphasis. "I won't fight you."

Even though Mihawk had crossed paths with Monkey D. Luffy a couple of times in the past, this was the first time he truly talked with the boy. Just from that brief exchange, he could see why Shanks favored him and why Zoro would do so much for him. "Fair enough."

From the side, Sanji made his way to the center with a tray balanced on one hand. Now that the show was over, it was time for some refreshments. "Drinks, anyone?"

While everyone cheered in appreciation and reached for a glass, Mihawk turned his attention to his pink-haired companion. "Aren't you going to go fix him?" he inquired casually.

"Why would I?" she retorted easily, appearing as though she could really care less. "They've got a doctor on this ship, don't they?"

Chopper's eyes widened with a look of mortification. "Oh! That's me!" He couldn't believe he got so caught up in the excitement that he forgot to do his job! Relinquishing his hold on his untouched juice, the reindeer began pushing his way through the crowd.

"Doctor," Mihawk voiced, catching everyone's curious ears and stopping Chopper before he could get too far. "Would you mind tending to my wounds first?"

Chopper blinked, uncertain. "Eh?"

Perona tightened her grip around the handle of her umbrella, her eyebrow twitching. "You don't even have a scratch on you!" she pointed out furiously.

"Hmm." The swordsman gave himself a quick once over. "I see your point." Unsheathing the small dagger he wore around his neck like a crucifix, he made a swift cut to the back of his left hand, drawing blood. "Now, Doctor…if you would?"

Most of the spectators seemed amused, while Chopper was simply confused.

So, Sanji decided to help out. "Go ahead and help him, Chopper. He is our guest."

"Yeah," Nami added with a sly grin of her own. "Didn't you hear what Luffy said? Zoro won't die so easily."

Seeing as how everyone seemed to be in agreement on it being the hospitable thing to do, Chopper returned to the infirmary to retrieve his supplies to tend to Mihawk's minor cut.

Perona, on the other hand, wasn't feeling as gracious about the Shichibukai's little stunt to keep the doctor away from the one who actually required medical attention. In fact, she was pissed. "Are you seriously trying to kill him?! He's in worse shape than that time when you told him to fight the Humandrills with blindfolds on!"

The Straw Hat crew watched on with mild fascination as the slip of a girl fearlessly rounded on the world's greatest swordsman, nitpicking every move he had made during the fight that could have potentially caused some kind of permanent damage to the younger swordsman.

Mihawk simply let her speak without any signs of anger or displeasure, taking a glass of wine off of Sanji's tray and sipping from it with nonchalance. He was used to it after all and could recall when this trend of Perona's anxious ranting began: the day he had taken Zoro's eye.

"…and then after that, you nearly lopped his arm off! Now you're holding up their cute little doctor when he's bleeding like a chopped tomato! You know how much he sucks at treating his own wounds! If we just leave him be, he might…he might…" She clicked her tongue, shaking with exasperation as she struggled within herself. Patching that guy up wasn't her task anymore! She shouldn't have to do this! "Argh!" With a huff, she turned on her heels and stomped away with purposeful strides, cursing her own lack of resolve. She couldn't just let that chopped tomato bleed out now, could she? "All swordsmen are idiots!"

As the Ghost Princess disappeared in the same direction Zoro had gone, Mihawk allowed himself a hearty laugh. It wasn't something he did often. Somehow, those two just had the knack for drawing it out of him without knowing it. He then returned his attention to the people around him. "So, tell me… What has that boy been up to these past two years?"

After a bit of searching, Perona eventually found Zoro in the cabin he shared with the other guys, sitting at the low table with various first aid supplies spread out around him. He looked up when he heard someone enter. After holding her gaze for a few moments, he simply returned to the task of winding bandages loosely around his arm without a word.

Taking off her hat and setting it aside along with her umbrella, she marched up to him and sat on her heels by his side. Slapping his hand away with that you're-a-troublesome-idiot scowl on her features, she proceeded with unwrapping the mess of bandages on his arm so that she could start with disinfecting the wounds…something he probably didn't bother doing. "Why did you walk off on your own?" she asked with a bit of annoyance as her hands fell into the old routine. "You should have asked the cute doctor to come help you!" If he had, then Chopper wouldn't have been held up.

Zoro gave that a bit of thought. It was a good question. He didn't have a good answer. It was odd. The thought of enlisting Chopper's help hadn't even crossed his mind this time. Not only that, he didn't even go to the infirmary where there were a lot more supplies. Perhaps it was because his opponent had been Mihawk. In the past, whenever he had matches with Mihawk, he would always be fixed up by Perona. He studied her as said girl diligently and carefully dabbed a cotton over the cuts on his chest.

Perhaps on some subconscious level, he was expecting her to come.

"How did you find me?" he asked instead of answering her question.

In response, she reached two fingers inside her dress and retrieved three ripped pieces of white paper from the space between her breasts, holding them up with a dry expression before tucking them back into their place.

Vivre cards. Zoro had almost forgotten about them. His eye strayed over to his swords where he kept his three pieces strapped to the side of Wado Ichimonji's sheath. They each had a piece of each other's card in their possession. Mihawk had had the cards made and given to them as a parting gift, saying that if Zoro's card should burn up, then he'd know when to stop expecting the younger swordsman's return for another attempt at claiming his title. Of course, this didn't explain why Perona had been given a card. Then again, the reasons behind it weren't too hard to figure out. After having spent so much time together, the three of them weren't exactly strangers anymore.

"So, I take it you went back," he said, stating the obvious.

"It's a good thing I did," she replied distractedly, keeping most of her attention on her task. "Otherwise, he would have been living off of nothing but wine …and might even resort to training Humandrills to do the laundry."

"Why did you go back?" When they had parted ways at Sabaody Archipelago, she had mentioned something about going her own way for a while.

"Guess I just didn't find anywhere else I wanted to go," she said conversationally. "I did run into some pirates who wanted to offer me a place on their ship." Quite a few, actually, ranging from the well known to the unknown. "One of them was Scratchmen Apoo, but…I couldn't handle the weird teeth. Basil Hawkins was another, but he's got these weird eyebrows, so, no. Then there was Trafalgar Law. He's actually alright. In any case, I like his jolly roger, and there's a super cute guy in his crew," she supplied, remembering the white bear, Bepo. "But…I don't know. Hawk-Eyes's place is still more my style." Of course, the other reason why she went back was because she had figured it would increase her chances of crossing paths with this idiot again, but she wasn't about to tell him that.

Zoro wasn't surprised that even the Supernovas were interested in Perona. After all, having a Devil Fruit power automatically made her a hot commodity. Not to mention, she had experience working under not just one but two Shichibukai. All that aside…he wondered who the so-called 'super cute guy' in Law's crew could possibly be.

Perona's brows came together when a particularly nasty looking scar caught her eye…one that looked foreign to her. "How'd you get this?" she inquired, trailing her fingers lightly along the rough skin just under his collar bones.

He gave the barest hint of a shrug. "Just a memento from Punk Hazard."

Then she threw a glance at the angry mark adorning his bicep, keeping her expression neutral. "And that one?"

"Some crazy bastard with poisonous throwing hooks."

She singled out a few more scars to ask about and he soon realized that, without exception, they were all from battles he had fought after his departure from Kuraigana Island. The thought had never occurred to him before, but she had tended to his wounds so much she could probably map out all of the scars on his body with her eyes closed.

When she was done asking, she had this look on her face that clearly said she wanted to say something but was trying to refrain from doing so. It made him frown. "What?"

"Nothing," she evaded.

"If you got something to say, then say it." Better to get it done and over with, especially when she was starting to look like she might implode at any second.

She rolled her eyes with a sigh, easily caving in to his request. "Wasn't the point of all that crazy training to prevent all this?" she asked, her hand generally gesturing to the multitude of battle scars he had acquired over the past two years.

"You're kidding, right?" he deadpanned. "This is the New World." Without his training, he might not have even made it to Fishman Island alive. Did she really expect him to sail through it unscathed?

"Exactly! So, when are you going to stop being so damn reckless?!" she exclaimed. "And stop leaving everything to fate!" she quickly added before he could retort. He just loved that fate thing and would always say things like if he didn't survive, then it just meant that he wasn't good enough or it wasn't meant to be. It was as though he were using fate as an excuse to be reckless…as permission to be stupid. Fired up by that thought, she tugged hard on the bandage she was wrapping around his torso, making sure that he'd feel it.

Zoro hissed between his teeth. "Damn it, don't take it out on me just because you worry obsessively!"

"I am not worried!" she insisted.

That was a blatant lie, and they both knew it. After all, his wellbeing and his seeming lack of regard for self preservation tended to be the subjects around which their arguments revolved. He could call her out on it just to irritate her, but that course of action might not be so good for his health.

"I'm out of bandages," she informed.

"There's more in my locker," he said, looking to the row of lockers on one of the walls. "Second one from the right. It should be just sitting on the shelf."

As Perona followed his directions, Zoro took a moment to look himself over. There was nostalgia in the way she dressed his wounds. Despite how she still tied those ridiculous little bows everywhere along the bandages and the fact that it was not as professionally done as Chopper's work, there was some comfort in it. He sort of missed it.

She opened up his locker and immediately spotted the item where he said it would be. As she reached to retrieve it, a small leather pouch sitting on the shelf beside the bandages with its tie loose and its contents exposed caught her attention. Biting down on her laughter, she picked up the pouch along with the bandages and closed the locker. "What's this?" she asked, a mischievous lilt in her voice as she went and dangled the pouch in front of his face.

When he saw what was in her hand, he looked away and rubbed the back of his neck, a bit annoyed. "I ended up picking one up from every port we stopped at," he explained somewhat grumpily, not entirely happy with himself for repeatedly doing something that was compulsive and ultimately pointless in his view.

"Wait…didn't you used to always say how useless this stuff was and buying them was a huge waste of time?" she accused teasingly.

"I still think that," he insisted with folded arms.

She raised a skeptical brow, waiting for his explanation.

"It's just out of habit, alright?!" he grudgingly divulged, frowning like there was no tomorrow. Besides, it was entirely her fault that he picked up this weird habit.

She poured the contents of the pouch into her hand: a collection of silver charms. She tried to suppress the smile that bloomed on her features along with the memories that came bubbling to the surface of her mind…memories of her dragging him unwillingly to a trinkets shop to buy something every time they had to do a supplies run. She never thought that he would continue the tradition on his own. Just the mental image of him doing it was enough to make her laugh.

He watched as she shuffled through the trinkets in her hand with interest. "I don't have any use for them. If you want, you can have 'em." Otherwise, they'd just be collecting dust in his locker.

The charms he had selected were quite different from the ones she would have picked out. Holding one up, dangling it between her fingers, she raised an amused brow at him. "Sake bottle?" She held up a different one. "Katana?"

"If you don't want them, you can hand them back over," he said dryly.

"No," she said airily, the delighted smile still on her lips. "I'll take them." Placing the charms back into the pouch, she set it aside and resumed the task of patching him up.

After watching her work in silence for a while, he finally resolved to ask the question that had been on his mind for quite some time now. "What can you do with your Devil Fruit powers?"

"What?" She spared him a bemused glance at the unexpected question, wondering if she had indeed heard correctly.

"What can you do with your Devil Fruit powers?" he repeated. "Besides astral projection and the ghost network thing…and making people feel like crap."

She frowned lightly in puzzlement, unsure of his sudden interest. "I can make explosions with Ghost Rap."

"Can you haunt people?"

That actually made her chuckle lightly. "I don't know. I've never tried. Sounds like it could be fun, though." She quirked a brow at him. "Why are you asking me this?"

He gave a light shrug. "Just wondering." It had occurred to him some time ago that the reason why he would keep hearing her voice all the time wasn't because she was haunting him. He simply couldn't get her out of his head. Her answer just now was really more of a confirmation rather than a revelation.

He hadn't really given it much conscious thought during the days when they used to be in constant company of each other, but she had somehow managed to carve out a place for herself in his life. She wasn't family. She wasn't a mentor. She was different from a nakama, more than an impromptu medic, closer than just a friend. He wasn't quite sure where she fit in. She seemed to be in an undefined category all her own.

By the time he had figured all this out, it was already too late. They had already gone their separate ways. There hadn't been any goodbyes. There hadn't been any see-you-laters. They had simply walked away from each other, and that was it. He had never thought that he'd be spending the next two years wondering where she was and whether he'd ever run into her again.

"There," Perona said, her voice cutting into his musings. "It's done."

Unable to think of anything better to say, he muttered a simple thanks.

She shrugged. "I'd tell you to take it easy for a few days, but I'm sure you'd be up training by sunrise."

He smirked. She knew him too well.

Perona took a deep breath as her eyes darted around the cabin. Now that she was finished with her task, she didn't really have much excuse to keep hanging around down here anymore. "Guess I better go make sure Hawk-Eyes doesn't leave without me." Reluctantly, she rose to her feet, busying herself with smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress.

"Perona, wait." Following her example, Zoro stood as well. He had no idea what he wanted to do. He just knew that if he let her leave now they'd be doing exactly the same thing they did two years ago, walking away from each other without saying or knowing anything. And if past experience was anything to go by, it would really annoy the hell out of him in the days to come.

In the next couple of seconds, the time it would take for Perona to finish fixing her dress and face him, Zoro mulled over the options before him:

Option one: he could say something…tell her what's been going through his head. It seemed like the sensible thing to do, except he was never good at explaining things. Words escaped him when the subject matter had nothing to do with combat, and even then he tended to keep things brief. It certainly didn't help that the subject matter at hand was something way out of his area of expertise. The only reference he had for how to deal with a member of the opposite sex was Sanji…and that was really more a reference of what not to do. He would kill himself before adopting behaviors based on that Ero-Cook.

Option two: he could ask her questions on what she thought about what was or wasn't going on between them. That way, she could do all the talking. Only problem was, questions still involved words, and adding a question mark at the end didn't make it any easier.

So then, that only left him with option three: skip the talking and cut to the chase.

The moment Perona looked up to see what he wanted, Zoro placed a hand on the back of her head and pulled her in, placing a solid kiss on her lips. It was abrupt, he knew, but it was clear, to the point, and self-explanatory.

When her brain caught up with her, Perona pushed away from him, her eyes wide with shock. "Wh…what the hell was that?"

"That was me not leaving things to fate," he replied with his most deadpan expression.

She remained frozen in place, unable to believe what she just heard, unable to accept what just happened. When she finally came out of her stupor, the Ghost Princess closed her eyes as her brows drew together in a frown, her hands tugging on her pink tresses in frustration. "That was…so…completely WRONG! Can you BE any less romantic?!"

As embarrassing as it was, she had actually fantasized about kissing this blockhead many times over. Spending as much time as she had on making miniature versions of the idiot, her thoughts were bound to stray. However, never in any of those scenarios had it ever happened quite like this. Of course, she had already figured that, realistically speaking, chances were low that it would happen in her two most favored settings: under a full moon in the midst of a field of tombstones with a layer of eerie mist hovering over the ground, or in a dark cave lit by jack-o'-lanterns as a swarm of vampire bats flittered about and bloodthirsty wolves howled in the distance. But this? This wasn't even anywhere near the most mundane of the things she had imagined.

"Would it hurt to at least try to woo me a little?!" she griped. "I mean…where are the dead roses? The poetry of death and despair? You could at least bring me a cup of hot cocoa or something!"

Her reaction put an amused smirk on Zoro's face because, despite the fact that she was hopping mad, she wasn't upset with the fact that he had kissed her…just the execution of it. "Well, this is what you got."

She huffed a breath with a frown. "I got cheated."

He gave a carefree shrug, smug look still in place. "Take it or leave it."

She pinned him with an accusing glare. "You have no tact."

He raised a brow. "Got a problem with it?"

That comment actually managed to coax a soft laughter out of her. Heaving a sigh of resignation, she supposed she really shouldn't have been so surprised. Hadn't she always known he was an idiot? "You," she began as she reached up with her hand and lightly traced the outer shell of his left ear with her fingers, watching as his earrings swayed in the wake of her touch, "…are so not cute."

With a wry smile on her lips and fondness in her eyes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss, issuing no further complaints when his arms found their way around her and pulled her flush against his form. True, he didn't have anything awe-inspiring to say, but his insistent kisses and unyielding embrace were enough to let her know that her decision to wait for him hadn't been wrong.

After the spur-of-the-moment merry making that lasted till dawn, the Straw Hats gathered on the decks to bid the Shichibukai and the Ghost Princess farewell.

"Monkey D. Luffy, I thank you for your hospitality," Mihawk said in parting.

"Come back again anytime," Luffy responded with his trademark grin, having decided long before this day that the older swordsman wasn't a bad guy. The man had looked after one of his very important nakama, after all.

Then Mihawk turned to Sanji with a slight nod. "The food was very much appreciated," he began, bringing a smile to the cook's features. "It's been a while since I've had distinguishable meat."

Beside him, Perona grumbled indignantly as she tried to glare a hole into Mihawk's head. "If you can't stomach it, then make it yourself next time!" she all but hissed.

"So, you're still turning meat into cardboard," Zoro noted with a barely concealed smirk, unable to resist himself.

The pink-haired girl turned her fury to the younger swordsman. "Shut up!" Then she promptly redirected her ire once again, this time to Luffy. "And you! Hurry up and be Pirate King already!" she said demandingly before turning away and heading towards the Coffin Boat with a huff.

Luffy scratched his head, a confused frown on his face as his eyes trailed her retreating form. "Why's she so mad about it?"

The green-haired swordsman offered nothing more than an amused shrug.

"Be prepared, Zoro," Mihawk warned before the corner of his lips turned up slightly. "You never know when you and I might meet again next."

Zoro stood a bit taller with a confident and challenging look in his eye. "Anytime. Anywhere."

After giving the young man one last approving look, the Shichibukai went to join the pink-haired young woman in the Coffin Boat.

"So, when do you plan on coming back?" Perona inquired, having heard his last words to Zoro.

"In two years," he informed with a straight face.

Her eyes bulged with disbelief. "Another two years?!"

He hid his smirk to her predictable reaction. "You are free to return on your own if you deem that length of time too long for your liking. Or…you could just stay here."

Perona sputtered. "That's not something for you to decide! This isn't your ship!" It was rather irksome that Mihawk, the ever stoic swordsman who always carried himself with an air of seriousness, had developed a taste for teasing her on the subject of Zoro.

Taking a deep calming breath as their boat set off, Perona recalled the conversation she had with the green-haired swordsman the previous night:

"What do you plan to do after your journey?" she asked.

Zoro gave that a moment of consideration. "After making Luffy Pirate King, I'll return to Kuraigana Island."

"Why?" she inquired, internally cursing herself for not being able to completely conceal the anticipation in her voice.

He gave her a meaningful look. Then a smirk found its way to his lips. "To defeat Hawk-Eyes and become the world's greatest swordsman…of course."

Perona rolled her eyes at the memory. Zoro had said he would stay at the island for as long as it would take to achieve his goal. So, it may be just one fight, or it might take years. "That idiot plans to come back and kick your ass, you know," she said casually.

To that, Mihawk could only laugh. "I do not doubt it."

Watching from the Sunny's deck as the pair departed, Zoro noticed three of his sword charms hooked into one of Perona's umbrella-devil's ears, glimmering in the morning sun. He frowned as his hand grasped the three earrings he wore on his own ear. Is she mocking me?

"They seem like interesting people," Luffy enthused from where he was sitting on the railing beside the swordsman with his legs dangling off the side of the ship. "You must have had an interesting two years with them, Zoro! I wouldn't have minded if they hung around a while longer."

Zoro sighed with mild annoyance. "Just let them go."

"You're not going to miss her?" Robin asked with a light chuckle from Zoro's other side.

He placed his hand on the sheath of Wado Ichimonji where he kept Perona's vivre card. "I know where to find her," he said simply, not directly answering Robin's question, though not denying the implications in her words either as the Ghost Princess's unconcerned voice rang through his head:

"Fine. Guess I have no choice but to start stocking up on first aid supplies again. You're an idiot, after all. You won't live long enough to enjoy the glory of being the greatest swordsman if I'm not there to piece you back together."

Zoro chuckled to himself. That had been her response when he told her he'd be going back to Kuraigana Island someday…a day he would look forward to.

They had spent two years together, then two years apart. What will happen in the future, when will they meet again…neither of them could say for sure. No promises had been made nor words of undying love exchanged. There was just an unspoken understanding that, for them, this was not the end.

…END…

A/N: And that's the story. Right when I say it's not the end, it ends. =P Hope you liked!

As far as reading goes, I'm a bit behind. I think I stopped in the middle of the Punk Hazard Arc…right after Zoro's fight with that bird woman. So, I hope there's nothing in here that's totally contradicting to whatever's going on in canon right now.

For some reason, I really like the image of Mihawk in his Coffin Boat with Perona sitting on the arm of his chair. It'll be cool if they make an entrance like that in the series someday. XD Mihawk is a pretty serious, no nonsense character. But after spending so much time with 'the kids', he softened up somewhat and took on a bit of a guardian/mentor role with them, borderline father figure-like with Perona. Well, at least that's how it played out in this story. =P

Perona's powers…it kind of looks like after the 2 year time skip, she is able to float even without leaving her body. There's a scene where she's arguing with Zoro, and she appears quite tangible. When she got up to his face, her hat's shown bent upward against Zoro's forehead instead of going through him. So, that's why in this chapter she was able to float up to the Sunny's deck while still in her physical body.

Perona complains about Zoro's sense of romance, but hers is actually pretty off, too. Haha! XD

Yay! It's finally done! I can move on with my life! LOL! Now go and write your own Zoro/Perona fic! =D

Thanks for reading! Reviews much appreciated!

That's all for now! Until next time!