Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. I would like to thank the original author though for their talent and their creation of my most two favourite characters in the history of manga.

Author's Note: Well, here I am again! I just can't get enough. I seem to spend most of my free time writing. Luckily I have a patient and understanding partner! I guess there has been a bonus to being ill for the 2nd time this year…working with kids has its downfalls but at least it gives me more free time.

I just want to give a huge thank you to anyone who may have read and commented or critiqued my other OP stories. You have all given me more confidence. I have to say though that I wasn't happy with the ending of my last fan fic 'Body Swap'…maybe one day I will go back and change it. In fact all my work needs tweaking…I will make changes at some point.

Please forgive me for any typos. I have been using a tablet to write and I don't think I will ever get used to touch screen. The number of mistakes are unreal! I read my work before I post it every time yet I keep seeing errors!

Well, enough of me going on and on…allow me to introduce my next ZoNa story…

First Impressions

Chapter 1

Princess Shirahoshi watched the straw hat pirates in awe as they celebrated the achievements of winning their fight against Hordy. The party seemed like it would go on for days and nights without fail. She couldn't help but smile and laugh along with the members of the crew. She knew she had already formed an attachment to their captain and tried not to think about the time when she would have to say goodbye. She owed him so much already. He had saved her people, her life and her freedom and helped her to gain a new found confidence within herself.

Watching the rest of the crew dance, eat, drink and cheer with other fish men made her wonder if all humans were like this and what each of Luffy's friends has been like before they met their captain.

Nami saw the mermaid princess looking down at them fondly and could tell from her facial expression she wanted to say something. Knowing from meeting her at first glance that she was a timid and shy character, Nami decided to give her a helping hand.

"Are you okay your majesty?" the straw hat navigator asked as she approached the large mermaid.

Shirahoshi's eyes opened wider and a blush appeared on her face, she nodded and said, "Yes I am fine, thank you" she replied with her usual soft tone.

"Cry baby, look at this!" Luffy shouted from across the room. Nami and the princess raised their heads and saw the straw hat captain dancing on a table with chop sticks in his nose. Shirahoshi couldn't help but laugh as he was joined by the long nosed boy, tanuki and robot.

Nami shook her head, "Those idiots will never change" she sighed.

A stretched hand suddenly appeared in front of the two females. It held two chopsticks and Luffy suddenly said, "you try!" to the princess.

Shirahoshi blushed and went to grab the sticks out of his hand but Nami blocked her way. Sanji sent a kick in their captain's direction. The hand pinged back into place.

"Don't drag the princess into your stupid antics!" Sanji spat.

Nami turned away from the boys and shook her head, she looked up at the princess and said, "Don't do as he says. He may be our captain but he isn't right all the time"

Shirahoshi became embarrassed and looked down at the ground.

"Princess, my sweet, I have a nice refreshing drink for youuuu!" Sanji spun over in a daze and with hearts pounding from his eye sockets. Shirahoshi flinched away slightly.

"Baka" Nami gently hit the cook on the head, "don't scare her" she scolded.

Sanji snapped to his senses, "my apologies Nami-san, I brought one for you, too" he proceeded by handing both ladies a drink. He scanned around them for a second and then asked, "Where is Robin?"

"She is still in a meeting with the king about something" Nami explained, sipping at her drink. Sanji nodded as if in understanding and tucked the tray under his arm.

"Umm…I was wondering…" the sweet voice of the mermaid suddenly spoke up, causing Nami and Sanji to look up at her with quizzical expressions. "That is, can I ask you a question?"

Nami and Sanji looked at each other and then back at her, "Off course my princess" Sanji replied.

Shirahoshi's expression lit up and excitement began to flow through her.

"What is it you want to know?" Nami asked, prompting the princess again who seemed to have lost herself to her own thoughts.

"…can you tell me how you all met Luffy?" she asked. She was curious to know more about the human world but also more about her saviour. She wanted to know what sort of man he was and learn more about the people he called friends.

"What are you talking about?" Robin asked as she approached them.

"ROBIN-CHAN!" Sanji gave her his usual greeting, making space for her and Nami to sit down. Robin sat in a seat offered to her and placed her bag down on the floor.

"Thank you" she said as the cook tended to their needs.

Nami followed suit and sat down at a table with her friend.

"Princess Shirahoshi would like to know how we all met Luffy" Nami explained.

Robin smiled and looked at the princess. Her stunning blue eyes studied the giant mermaid for a second and were lost in thought. When she was met by an uncertain stare in response she broke eye contact and came back to her senses. She sipped her drink, "that could take some time to explain" she replied.

"What can take time?" Chopper asked as he approached them to grab a drink himself, he had grown thirsty from all that dancing.

"The princess wants us to tell her our stories" Sanji spoke up, sitting on a chair in between his favourite female members of the crew.

"A story?! Ooh I want to hear, too!" Luffy shouted, jumping over to sit on the floor by the others. Usopp soon followed them and sat down.

Having seen their companions gathering around together by the princess, Zoro, Franky and Brook all sauntered over as well.

"I was the last member to join the crew so I too would be interested to know how you all met" Brook pitched in.

"I was the sixth member of the crew so I don't know much either!" Chopper announced, clearly eager to learn more.

"Well then where should we start?" Sanji asked, looking at the princess.

"What did you all think when you first met Luffy?" Shirahoshi asked softly.

The crew looked at each other and smiled, "IDIOT" they all announced at the same time. Shirahoshi was surprised by this statement. She didn't know how to take it but when Luffy started to laugh along with his friends she realised it was meant fondly.

When the laughing subsided Nami looked over to Zoro. He returned her gaze with an equally sentimental one. "Well I wasn't the first member to join this crew" she informed them. They all followed her gaze over to the swordsman. He sat in a chair across from them with one foot rested on his knee and a tankard in his hand. He looked at the tankard and smiled, then looked over at his captain and turned his gaze to the rest of his friends.

Zoro was not good at telling stories but facts were something he could handle. He looked at an expectant princess and began to explain his experience.

"I was being held captive by marines and Luffy saved me" he surmised. They looked at him expectantly and blinked.

"Is that it?!" Usopp asked sceptically.

"More or less" Zoro replied, taking a swig of his liquor.

"Why were you a prisoner?" Shirahoshi asked, "Did you commit a crime?" she gasped and placed her hands over her mouth. She wondered what this dangerous man had done in the past.

Something hit Zoro on the head and he looked up at the culprit. Nami was sitting there with her arms and legs crossed and a foot tapping on the ground. She was clearly warning him and trying to force him to give more information. He glared at her.

"I remember now!" Luffy spoke up, "Zoro was on trial for saving a little girl!" he announced.

The others looked over at the swordsman and some smiles came to their faces. "Aww, the big mean swordsman has a thing for kids" Sanji teased. Zoro gritted his teeth.

"It's not like that!" he bellowed.

"Then explain" Nami retorted.

"Fine…I was trying to find a man and ended up on an island…" He started.

"So you got lost?" Franky asked, gaining an unhappy expression from the green haired man.

"That's typical Zoro!" Luffy agreed, laughing.

"You're one to talk!" Nami scolded their captain.

Zoro continued begrudgingly, "I became a pirate hunter in order to make ends meet…I eventually arrived at an island. The people had been good to me but the son of a marine decided to enforce some stupid rules. He tried to hurt this kid and I stopped him. To prevent the marines attacking the people I offered myself up as their prisoner."

"Wow, Zoro you are so cool!" Chopper announced.

"Yeah but they broke their promise" Luffy butt in, "they said if he survived after starving himself for a month they would set him free. But they were going to hang him anyway"

"WHAT?! How could they?!" Chopper and Usopp announced together.

"So cruel!" Shirahoshi gasped.

Zoro shrugged, "That's when this idiot came in. He said he would set me free if I joined his crew. Even when I refused he wouldn't accept it"

"That's Luffy for you" Sanji nodded, lighting a cigarette.

"You refused? Why?" Shirahoshi asked, wondering why anyone would want to turn down her hero.

"I was a pirate hunter and he was a pirate. I hated pirates. Besides, I had something I needed to do…when I realised I could still achieve my goal with this idiot I decided to side with him" Zoro shrugged.

"Did you achieve your goal?" Shirahoshi asked. Zoro paused as he lifted his tankard to his mouth and looked at its contents for a second. He remembered his fight with his master while trapped on that damn island for two years. The scar on his left eye started to burn in memory of it.

"Not yet" he said with a determined look about him. He gulped down more of his drink.

They looked around at each other, "So who was next?" Chopper asked.

Nami raised one of her hands slightly to indicate it was her, "Naturally these morons between them couldn't find their way in a room with one door, let alone sailing the ocean" she said.

"Oi!" Zoro protested.

Luffy laughed, "I wanted to find a musician first but Zoro decided we needed a navigator"

They looked at the swordsman. Nami herself was a little surprised to hear this statement. Zoro shrugged, "we were lost and hadn't eaten for days..." he explained.

"There's a surprise" Usopp muttered, ignoring the glare he got in return.

"So how did you come across Nami?" Robin wondered.

Nami tilted her head to one side, "Well Luffy kind of fell from the sky" she announced.

"EH?!" Chopper was shocked.

Nami looked over to her captain and the swordsman, "To this day I still don't know how that happened" she said.

Zoro looked at Luffy and asked, "Do you want to tell them or shall I?"

Luffy placed a hand on his head and grinned, "I got stuck"

"Yeah, our captain here decided to try to grab a bird to eat, but got caught in its beak" Zoro stated.

"Moron!" Sanji muttered. For once the swordsman agreed with the blonde cook.

"Yeah while this fool was busy being eaten, I tried to chase after him but ended up meeting some of Buggy's clowns and losing him…" he looked at Nami accusingly.

"It wasn't my fault those idiots fell for my trap" Nami muttered, pointing her nose into the air.

This got a few looks between their friends.

"Do you mean the Buggy the Clown that tried to kill Luffy that time?" Sanji asked confused.

"Yeah the one and only" Zoro confirmed. This caused Robin, Brook, Chopper and Franky to look at one another in confusion. Clearly something else had happened between these guys that they had missed out on. Chopper couldn't help but feel a little jealous over it.

"Nami tricked them and stole their boat" he added.

"How did you know it was Nami if you hadn't met her?" Shirahoshi asked, curious.

Zoro looked at the princess and then back to the girl in front of him. Nami looked at him clearly keen to know the answer too. "They said a beautiful girl attacked them who could read the weather" he shrugged, "I didn't know it was Nami until later".

"That's my Nami-swan" Sanji cooed.

"Anyway" Nami intervened, coming to her senses "While that was happening I had managed to steal the map of the Grand Line from Buggy but was being chased by some of his goons. Luffy just happened to be dropped by the bird right in front of them."

"Was it fate?" The princess asked, thinking this was some cool way of meeting a person.

"That's one way of putting it" Nami said with a bead of sweat hanging from her forehead, "well, seeing it as a good diversion I pretended Luffy was my boss. The idiots fell for it straight away" she grinned at the memory of her cunning act.

"Yeah that wasn't nice of you Nami" Luffy said as he recalled the event, "you tricked me and tied me up"

Their friends looked at them and Robin had a raised eyebrow, "why did you tie him up?" she asked.

Nami suddenly became defensive and raised her hands in the air, shaking her head, "It wasn't like that. Luffy wanted me to join his crew despite me telling him that I hate pirates and the only things I like were tangerines and money"

"Our captain is stubborn" Sanji agreed. They all nodded, remembering his attitude when they declined his offer initially too.

"I only wanted you to join when I found out you could navigate!" Luffy defended himself.

"You mean you didn't want Nami to be your friend straight away?" Brook asked.

"No, she was mean to me!" Luffy replied. He glared at the red head.

Nami tutted under her breath, "Get over it already. It isn't my fault you were stupid enough to fall for it! Besides, we won in the end didn't we?"

"Yeah, after I had to step in and save your ass" Zoro reminded her.

"Why what happened?" Chopper was keen to know.

Nami sighed, "I took Luffy to Buggy to pretend that I was surrendering to him and wanted to join his crew. It was a ploy to try to steal some Beli from him"

"And to save your own skin" Zoro interrupted. She ignored him.

"Anyway, I was in the middle of holding them to a drinking contest with the intention of stealing the key to Luffy's cage when they slept…I may not look it but I am able to hold my liquor well…but Buggy wanted me to use one of his cannons to kill Luffy…I suddenly realised he was serious. I didn't know what to do and then Luffy told me something that made me realise that I had to stop it"

"What did he say?" Usopp asked, looking at his captain.

Luffy stared at them blankly and grinned, "Can't remember" he announced. They all sighed and turned back to Nami.

"You lack the strength of that oath" she quoted him.

"What oath?" Franky asked.

"The pirate oath" Zoro answered. Nami looked up at him and nodded.

"What is that?" the princess had not heard this before.

"The oath to risk your life" they all said at the same time. Nami smiled.

"I suddenly found myself wondering what the hell I was doing and fought back, but there were too many of them and the cannon had been lit" she explained.

"I thought I was a goner" Luffy nodded, recalling the memory.

"What happened next?!" Shirahoshi asked, "How did you stop the cannon?" She started to lean over towards them eager to know more. Half of the group became covered in her shadow.

"Nami grabbed the flame and put it out with her hands" Zoro pitched in. Nami looked down at the old scars on her hands.

She looked up at him and gave a faint smile, "and that's when Zoro came on the scene. He saved my life" she recalled the memory of the burning sensation that forced her to scream out in pain and the fear that flooded through her as a horde of men ran at her to kill her. She had closed her eyes and gritted her teeth to prepare herself for the worst but it did not come. She heard a gruff voice behind her saying, 'all these men attacking one girl?' she turned her head around slowly in shock. Relief washed over her as he pushed the men back with ease. He turned to her and asked, 'did you get hurt?' Nami was still in a daze at the time and couldn't help but thank the gods for bringing this man to save her. It was all she could do to shake her head and thank him. She was even more shocked to learn that this man was none other than the pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro. Learning that he was following the guy she had just caught made her even more confused. What the hell was a pirate hunter doing with a pirate? She had wondered, but soon came to the conclusion that they were both idiots when they ignored their own situation and fought the enemy.

The group watched Nami as she frowned in recollection of something, "I remember thinking that these two were hard to understand. Zoro was injured by Buggy and bleeding heavily but still insisted on lifting the huge cage that Luffy was in and pulling him to safety. Even then he didn't like to be told what to do" She sighed.

"That's typical Zoro" Chopper agreed, remembering all the times the swordsman ignored his instructions.

"So what happened next?" the princess asked.

"We fought Buggy" Luffy announced, "and Nami stole his gold"

"It was mine in the first place!…besides, I seem to recall you left half of it behind!" she pointed a finger at him accusingly.

"The people needed it to rebuild their town" Luffy defended himself.

"That's not the point!" Nami retorted, "We needed the money to buy food and a new ship" she explained.

"We got Merry for free!" Luffy stated, although the recollection of their old friend caused the group to become saddened.

"Thanks to Nami's directions we made it to an island safely" Zoro pitched in, trying to lighten the mood. "That's when we met Usopp".

"I believe it is now my turn!" Usopp announced, standing up and drawing their attention to him. The others remained silent and turned to look at the man before them, "It started on a sunny day. The Great Captain Usopp and my army of 8,000 men were doing our usual patrol around the island, to ensure that the people were safe" he announced.

"Wow, Usopp you had a pirate crew already?" Chopper's eyes showed stars.

Nami and Zoro shared a knowing glance, recalling the three little kids that followed their friend around. They chose not to say anything and let him have his moment. Zoro couldn't help but smile at the recollection of the fear on those kids faces though when they thought Luffy had eaten their captain. He tried to remember their names but struggled…wasn't one of them like an onion? He wondered.

"I spotted in the horizon a pirate ship. I went to great them like any captain would" Usopp explained. "In fear of my men and my incredible aura they gave themselves in…though off course being a kind captain I decided to show them around and be hospitable" he paused, "but then a fearsome thing happened" Usopp's tone changed suddenly to a more menacing one. "A terrible pirate known as Kuro attacked the village. He had been pretending to be the butler to the Great Captain's lover" Usopp continued in an exaggerated tone.

Nami raised an eyebrow at this and smiled at the confession their friend just made with regard to his feelings for Kaya. She recalled how Usopp would always go to her bedroom window and tell her stories of adventures he had made up just to cheer her up. As much of a liar as he could be, she had to admit the gesture was quite romantic.

"Who was she?" Chopper asked.

"Well, my dear friend, Kaya is a princess of a wealthy king. Her beauty is so great that man cannot lay eyes on her without becoming blind" Usopp exaggerated.

"So what did Kuro do?" the reindeer was completely hooked.

"He deceived her and tried to kill her, even though her father had taken him in and shown him kindness. All he wanted was to gain the money her family had earned through hard work. But I, the Great Usopp, saw through his plan and gathered my men together…with the help of Luffy, Nami and Zoro off course" he added the latter in response to his friends irritated looks. "The battle was awe inspiring. There were 10,000 men, but this did not stop us. We may have been out numbered but we succeeded!" He forced a hand up and punched the air to exaggerate his speech. He then went on to talk about how fiercely he fought of the enemy…making the other's work seem unimportant.

"Woow! You guys are so great!" Chopper was in a daze along with the princess. Robin raised an eyebrow at Nami and when she saw the roll of the eyes her friend gave she knew it was an exaggeration. Luffy just laughed.

Zoro glanced over at their navigator as the memory of him being pulled down onto the oil slick mud came flooding back to him. He could still feel her high heels on his back as she stepped on him like some kind of rug. He had sworn at that moment to get revenge on her for doing that to him. He suddenly remembered he hadn't done so.

Nami saw the swordsman staring at her with narrowed eyes. She chose to ignore his glare, having no idea what he was upset about this time. Nami recalled the events of that day clearly. She remembered how Zoro had stepped in the way of Usopp's shot to protect them from harm. As scared as she was of the enemy and as much as she wanted her treasure, she knew she wouldn't stand a chance without his help. Thinking on her feet she had jumped down to steal Zoro's swords back and give him back the advantage in the fight.

"Oh I remember now!" Luffy burst out, they all looked at him, and "Nami stamped on my face!" he shouted, pointing a finger at her. Nami had a bead of sweat appear as she grimaced.

"Honestly, out of all of that, that is the bit you remembered?" she sighed.

"It hurt!" he defended himself.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" she snapped, "besides you were the one stupid enough to be hypnotised then fall asleep after knocking yourself out with the main mast of the enemies ship!" she retorted. The others looked at them with confused expressions.

"You didn't have to step on my face!" Luffy continued to argue, like a dog with a bone.

"It's not like she could help it" Zoro pitched in, "She risked her life to get me my swords and was attacked by that weird guy. Your face was in the way" he retorted. It was probably the first and only time the swordsman would ever defend the navigator. He was grateful to her that day and liked to give credit where it was due. He watched as Nami rubbed her left shoulder in memory of her injury.

Luffy looked at his friend and blinked for a second, "Nami was hurt?" he repeated, hanging his head to one side as he tried to think. They watched as it slowly dawned on him and he remembered what happened. He looked at her and grinned, "My bad" he said. They all hit their heads with their hands.

"What is the point in having a brain if you don't use it?" Zoro snapped at his captain.

"So, long nose-kun why did you leave your crew to join Luffy?" Shirahoshi asked.

Usopp looked up at her with arms crossed and nodded his head, "Well, you see great princess, my men, as loyal subordinates as they were, needed to protect our people. I wanted adventure and when Luffy begged me to join their crew as their captain I couldn't turn them away!" he stated.

"Hey, I am captain!" Luffy protested. Shirahoshi laughed at their interaction.

"Was that the only reason?" Robin asked her friend, her gaze hinted that she suspected something more to it than that.

Usopp looked at her, "Well…you see my father is a pirate…Luffy said he had met him and he was a great man…Hearing this made me also want to become a warrior of the sea" he said honestly.

"Yep! You might even be a better sharp shooter than your dad!" Luffy announced.

"Really?!" Usopp suddenly became excited and his ego enlarged a great deal.

"I wonder what his father is like." Sanji thought out loud as he took a drag of his cigarette and blew out some smoke.

Shirahoshi smiled, "Wow so your father is a pirate?" she looked at Luffy, then Zoro and Nami, and asked, "What about your families?"

Nami's gaze suddenly became saddened. Zoro studied her for a second and decided to speak up for both of them, "Nami and I don't have any family" he replied.

"Oh, I am sorry" the princess responded.

"Don't be, it's okay" Nami answered with a smile. Shirahoshi knew all too well what it was like to lose someone you loved and to be a prisoner in her own home. Nami couldn't help but have a soft spot for the princess of Fish Man Island. "Now Luffy's family however…" Nami proceeded to tell the princess about Luffy's father and grandfather. The girl became increasingly shocked with the story.

Zoro sat and watched the navigator talk. He gulped down the last drop of his drink and tightened his hold on the handle of his tankard. Nami was putting on a brave face. She said she had no problem in helping the Fish Men and had accepted that not all fish men were bad people. Yet he knew there was still a part of her that struggled with the memory of the past no matter how much she tried to hide it. He lifted his head to look at the cook, "Yo, I need more booze!" he bellowed.

"I don't take orders from you!" Sanji shouted back in irritation. The pair stood up and started to engage in a brawl.

….

A/N: I have to say it is a lot easier to write when you are writing about things that already happened. Yet I have read this several times now and keep making alterations. I don't think I can bear to read it again so I am just going to let you guys decide if it is any good. Please let me know what you all think so far.

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