This was a plot that came to mind while I was rewatching some OP episodes (the fishman island arc, during Jimbei's memories of Fisher Tiger). I have some chapter ideas but I'm not really sure if I have some final ending. We'll see how it goes.

Disclaimer: Oda is the genius mastermind behind OP. I'm not complaining. I wouldn't have been able to create half of what he has.

The Tenth StrawHat: Zoro's Shadow

Chapter One: Lost and Found

Zoro was asleep. He had been exercising vigorously and was tired. So he slept. Nothing out of the ordinary. He was in the crow's nest of the Thousand Sunny. They were docked at some island or other. Honestly, Zoro never knew what island they were on. He just followed along. He had his own names for them but refrained from calling them that in public.

Like the Bounty Hunter Island.

Or the Island Where We Fought the Wax Guy.

Or The Two-Giants Island.

Or Vivi's Desert Island.

Lately they've been even more exciting.

Like the Hot-Cold Island.

Or Island Where We Fought Pink-Feather Guy.

Or the Elephant Island.

He was one of the few that went to the Ninja Island.

He remembered the names of them, but it was easier in his mind to make up his own names. It helped him remember which island was which. All of them had a tendency to blur together lately. Just one adventure after another.

He had volunteered to guard the ship this time mainly because he was tired. He loved fighting but sleeping was also enjoyable. And it wasn't like this island seemed particularly fun or anything. They were really only here to replenish their supplies. After the constant adventures, they found that their supplies were running a little low. Particularly their food supply. Three guesses who the culprit was.

He wasn't sure exactly when, probably a couple of hours, but he suddenly woke up. Yawning and stretching, he blearily looked at his surroundings. This ship was silent. Using his natural observation haki, he knew that no one else was on the ship. Everyone either needed supplies or wanted to go explore the island. Apparently it was a popular tourist spot in the New World.

He could see the city stretching on for quite a distance. It was one of the larger cities he had seen since becoming a part of the StrawHats. There were a few people near the docks, some looking curiously at the pirate ship of such infamous pirates, but none were threats.

He debated whether to go back to sleep or exercise again, but decided that some sweet sake would be nice instead. He ignored the ladder and simply jumped down the hole, landing softly on the grass of the deck. There was a nice breeze, the strong smell of sea salt overpowering his nose. Just like always. Luffy called it the smell of adventure.

A commotion somewhere in town caused him to pause on his way to the galley. He squinted against the bright afternoon sun and saw a dust cloud making its way rapidly towards him. He probably would have been startled or something but knowing their luck, it was probably his crew being chased by something or someone. Maybe the Navy.

There was a loud, panicked shouting that let him know that their 'fearless man of the sea' Usopp was part of the cloud. Probably in the front lines.

"Zorooo!" He heard the shout. As much as he teased Usopp's supposed cowardice, he knew that Usopp had become a lot stronger in the two years. He was probably strong enough to take on whatever was chasing him. He just had yet to overcome his natural instinct to run. Oh well. Zoro was up now. Might as well get in a little fun.

With a 'hup!', he launched himself from the side of the ship. He spun in a circle before landing on the street that the dust cloud was moving down. He could see Usopp now, tears and snot, mouth opened wide in terror. He could also see what was chasing Usopp. It was just a giant boar, as big as the houses it was running past, with a man riding on top, his face masked by a red handkerchief. The rider's laughter was heard over Usopp's screams.

Neither the man or the boar looked overwhelmingly strong. Honestly. A single one of his trick shots could have taken them both out. Whatever. He drew only one of his katanas. No need for Three-Sword Style.

Usopp ran past Zoro. With a bored expression, Zoro crouched down and launched himself at animal and rider, slicing through both. He landed just on the other side of them, sheathing his sword as the offenders collapsed, skidding to a halt at Usopp's feet.

"Oh!" Usopp suddenly found his bravado now that the enemy had been defeated. "Foolish foe! Trying to take on the Great Sniper King Usopp! All that oppose this fearless man will be vanquished! Hahahaha!" He struck a pose that he obviously thought was heroic and fearless.

"Idiot." Zoro muttered, his arms folded.

"What!? I'll have you know that I was just about to unleash the full might of the Great Captain Usopp's ferocious power! It makes mere mortals flee in terror!"

Zoro ignored Usopp's boasts. He yawned. "Hey, Usopp." Usopp paused mid-boast. "Where is everyone else?"

"I'm not sure. We split up so we could all do our shopping quickly. I think I passed Nami in a clothes store on the main road while I was running from – I mean, while I was leading the Boar-Rider into my carefully planned trap." He finished with his nose in the air, his hands on his hips.

"Why was he chasing you?" Zoro nodded his head towards the still unconscious beast and rider.

Usopp's movements became fidgety. "Well, um, he was marveling at the greatness of the Great Usopp and –"

"Watch the ship. I'm going to go out." He interrupted the undoubtedly false tale, walking up the road the Usopp had come from.

"Eh?! You're going to leave me here with – uh, I mean – yes, don't worry! The fearless Usopp will make sure that the Boar-Rider will rue the day that he crossed the Great Sniper King!"

Zoro was already out of sight by then, leaving Usopp talking to nothing but air. The rider groaned and Usopp screamed, instinctively shooting him with one of his fire stars.

It was probably only 10 minutes later but Zoro found himself in an area that looked quite fancy. People with expensive-looking clothes were strolling about with an air of stuffiness of someone who thought way too much about themselves. Many were riding various modes of transportation, horses, wagons, palanquins, etc. Some underlying instinct deep within Zoro told him that most likely his crew of infamous pirates was not going to be found in this particular neighborhood, but he kept going. He was bound to run into one of them eventually.

Instead, he ended up in a large room, staggered seating leading down to a stage. He wasn't exactly sure how he had ended up here. He turned towards what he assumed was the exit and walked through. Inside, however, was just another large room, this one lined with cages. Inside the cages were all sorts of creatures, snarling, barking, drooling. He recognized vaguely some creatures that he had seen before but couldn't be bothered to remember when and where. Probably on some island that they had had some crazy adventure. Same old, same old.

He walked through another door, hoping that this was the exit. Instead he ended up confronted with the sharp ends of a lot of spears and swords.

"Eh?" He blinked.

"Eh?" Was one of the guard's response. They both blinked at each other. "How did you get back here? This is restricted access. Only guards and buyers are allowed. The bid hasn't started yet."

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Oh? My bad. I was looking for the exit."

The guards exchanged glances. "You're on the opposite side of the exit. It's in the opposite direction."

Zoro grimaced. Figures. "Thanks." He turned around and would have gone back out the door but stopped when he caught sight of what was in these cages.

People.

There was a mix of humans and fishmen. He even caught sight of a few mermaids sitting on barrels. All of them were chained and had hopeless expressions. None even bothered looking at him. He felt his blood boil.

Slaves. He saw the brand of a slave on some of them, on exposed arms of peeking above tattered collars. A few even had them on their cheeks or foreheads.

A flashback of Saboady came to mind, when Camie had been kidnapped and almost sold. And then Luffy had punched the Celestial Dragon that had shot Hatchen. Zoro's only regret was that he hadn't been the one to do that.

"Hey! What are you looking at? Move!" Another guard stepped forward in what he assumed was a threatening way, pointing his spear head at Zoro, trying to prompt him through the door.

Now, Zoro didn't really have any overt sense of justice or right and wrong. He was a pirate. He didn't fight for any particularly noble reason. His only dream was to become the World's Strongest Swordsman. He was a simple enough man. So, while he didn't really approve of slavery, he also realized that it was a part of the world and that it really didn't have much to do with him. He had no reason to stay and help them. It would probably just cause his whole crew a lot of trouble. They were probably already back at the ship, waiting for him. He should just leave. Mind his own business and all that.

"Can you hear me, stupid? I said, get out of here!" The man jabbed his spear at Zoro. Or at least, he tried to. What he ended up jabbing was the short bit of stick that he still held on to. The rest of the spear clattered on the floor, a clean slice just above the man's hands had made him weaponless.

There was silence as the rest of the guards stared in surprise. None had seen what had caused the spear to break. They looked back at the green-haired man to see that one of his three swords was unsheathed and in his hand. His eyes were shadowed.

There were noises of surprise and a few of fear at the deadly speed of the strike.

"Oi, oi, oi! You can't do that!" The first guard that had spoken shouted, pointing at the broken spear. The rest held their own weapons tightly, in case they had to fight the one-eyed swordsman. "Are you trying to steal the merchandise?" He demanded.

"'Merchandise'?" Zoro asked softly. To anyone that knew him, they would have heard the underlying warning in his tone.

The slaves nearest the confrontation had looked up at the noise. There was a gentle clinking of chains and a thin woman with a slave mark on her cheek blemishing her otherwise naturally beautiful skin came to the bars of her cage, a heavy chain around her bruised and scarred wrists. Her brown eyes had the same dullness of hopelessness that all the other slaves had but they were watery in unshed tears. Her chapped lips opened and single word came out, probably the only word that she could summon.

"Please."

"Shut up!" A guard that was near her banged his spear against her fingers that had grabbed the bars. She gave a cry of pain, jerking back and landing on her rear, clutching her injured fingers.

"We gave you a chance to leave, but now you'll be arrested for trying to steal government property." The guards advanced on Zoro, thinking that all of them were more than enough. With slow movements, Zoro reached down and drew his other two swords, placing one in his mouth. He crouched down in preparation for the fight.

"I'm not like that pervy-cook, who does stupid things just because some girl looks at him. I'm not like our doctor, who has to help anyone in need because he cares about everyone. But even I can't refuse someone who asks me so politely. That's really the only reason."

He looked up and all of the guards gasped and took a step back at the fierceness that was evident in his eye. It seemed to glow red.

"D-don't be intimidated, men!" The leader stuttered. "It's only one man! Charge!" They all shouted and rushed towards the crouching pirate.

"Oni giri!" There was a swishing sound and suddenly Zoro was on the other side of the group of guards. They seemed to be suspended in animation. The silence practically reverberated throughout the dark room.

With a soft chink, he sheathed his swords. The noise seemed to cause time to move forward again and all of the guards suddenly collapsed in groans.

By that time, more of the slaves stirred themselves and were watching the green-haired man defeat all the guards in less than a second.

The woman who had begged him was staring up at him with wide eyes, still clutching her red fingers. A fishman slave had knelt beside her, to protect or offer comfort was unclear. They both looked up at him in awe.

He scratched the back of his head as he heard shouts in a distance. Apparently someone had heard the noise he had made. "Looks like I'm in trouble." He muttered to himself. "Better get out of here quick." At this, several slaves hurried towards the bars of their cages, pleading looks in their eyes. They were obviously afraid that this one small chance of escape would leave before freeing them.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming. Eeeh, it'll take too long to look for the keys." He mused. He took a stance next to the nearest cage door. Faster than anyone could see, he slashed the whole door, not just the lock. With a clang, it fell in a heap, leaving a gaping whole. The slaves stared in shock.

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up." He said with a jerk of his head. They sprang to action, a clatter of chains and a patter of feet the only noise they made. Most seemed to think this was some kind of a dream and simply stared at their savior with wide eyes.

Zoro moved to the next cage and repeated his actions. By the third cage, the slaves seemed to realize what was happening and were leaving in droves, running past him. A few called out tearful gratitude.

There was a lot of noise throughout the building as some of the escaped slaves were spotted. Zoro quickly slashed the last cage and sheathed his sword. A tall fishman that had green skin and a slave brand on his muscular arm stood in front of Zoro.

"Thank you." He bowed formally. Zoro raised a brow and shrugged.

"No particular reason for it. They started the fight." The fishman grinned.

"Regardless, I can't express my gratitude enough. Please, let me help you fight." He lifted his chained hands. After a second, Zoro shrugged again and sliced through the chains. "Do what you like. I don't particularly need help."

They fishman just grinned. When Zoro started to run towards the exit he called after him. "The exit is the other way.

"Gah!" Zoro exclaimed before turning around and heading the opposite way. The Fishman followed.

"Do you not know how to get out of here?" Zoro refrained from answering which was all the answer then fishman needed. "I see. I'll lead you out. Follow me!" The fishman passed Zoro and led the way back through the room with the animals and the staggered seats. There was chaos as officials and slaves fought each other. Some slaves had managed to get their hands on weapons and were fighting valiantly, despite the chains on their wrists.

Those that couldn't walk, either from age, illness, or anatomy where being carried by the stronger ones.

Again, Zoro wasn't doing this for them. They were just in the way. So when he slashed through the guards, opening up the way before him, he ignored the cheers of the slaves as they followed after him. Zoro's green guide proved to be decently strong, throwing guards out of his way with relative ease, like tossing ragdolls.

"This way!" He called after Zoro, when Zoro started to veer off course. Within seconds they were outside, a large crowd of people running and screaming, adding to the chaos. They managed to weave their way through, slashing and tossing those that attacked them. A large crowd of slaves had decided that it was safer to follow the swordsman, knocking down the guards that tried to stand up after Zoro or the fishman had knocked them aside initially, making sure they had no followers.

They ran through the streets, ignoring the screams of surprise from the civilians as a large group of escaped slaves ran past them, headed by a man with green hair and three swords.

"Where is your ship?"

"At the dock." Was the terse reply. The fishman gave him a deadpan stare.

"I meant, which dock?"

"How should I know?" Zoro shot back.

"Because it's your ship!" Most of the slaves shouted back at him.

He was spared from having to answer by someone shouting his name.

"Oi! Zoro!" They looked up to see Luffy waving towards them, Nami on one side, Chopper and Franky on the other. "What are you doing? It looks fun!" The signature grin on his face. His three crewmates didn't seem to think so. Or at least, were more surprised than anything.

"Luffy!" Zoro shouted back. "I was just on my way back to the ship!"

"Oh good." Luffy responded casually, as though he wasn't addressing his first mate who was leading a large crowd of obviously escaped slaved behind him. "We are all done with our shopping. We actually were just looking for you. Usopp said you wondered off and probably got lost."

"I didn't get lost!" Zoro shouted. By this time, they had reached his captain and crewmates who ran along with him. Luffy just laughed.

"What happened? It looks like you had more fun than I did!" He grinned.

"Some people picked a fight with me. Then these people started to follow me." Was all the answer Zoro gave.

"Don't be so modest, Zoro-sama!" The green fishman shouted from his other side. "Your brave crewmember fearlessly fought all of the cruel guards that were watching over us while we waited to be bought be other people as slaves. Then he freed us from our cages. We are following him to ensure that he makes it back to his ship, as well as to escape ourselves."

"No one asked you." Zoro growled.

"You would have run around for ages if someone didn't help you find the ship." Nami shouted angrily. "And what have you done! You've just got us caught in a whole mess of trouble. And to think, I was starting to think that this was going to be the first island where we didn't have to run from something." She sobbed.

"Ow! That's Suuupeeeer heroic of you, Zoro!" Franky smacked his forearms together to form his trademark star.

"That's so brave, Zoro!" Chopper exclaimed, stars in his eyes. "To risk your life to free slaves!"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" He shouted back. Luffy just laughed.

There was a loud shout behind them and they saw a whole herd of marines chasing after them, their weapons drawn, shouting at them to stop. Nami and Chopper screamed in fear and all of them sped up, to get away.

The ocean was in view now, the StrawHat Jolly Roger visible over the crest of the hill.

"Eh? What are we going to do, Luffy?" Chopper asked. "Our ship isn't big enough to hold everyone."

"Don't worry about that, Blue-Nose-san." The fishman gave a webbed thumbs-up at the running reindeer. "We're just going to high-jack another ship. We were just escorting Zoro-sama."

There was a bang of gunshot and Nami and Chopper screamed again, as it bounced at their feet. There were marines on the rooftops lining the streets shooting down at the running pirates and slaves.

"Oi!" Luffy shouted. "Gomu gomu no pistol!" His arm stretch and he punched down three marines in one go.

"Eeeeh!?" The slaves behind him shouted in surprise as his arm snapped back to a normal length. "His arm stretched!" They yelled in unison, their mouths open, their eyes wide in shock.

"Yeah." Luffy grinned and grabbed his own cheek, stretching it beyond normal. "I'm a rubber man."

"A rubber man?"

"Luffy, Zoro, guys!" They saw Usopp shouting and waving from the deck of the ship. "What's going on?"

"We're being shot at!" Luffy laughed back. As if on cue, a few more shots rang off. Usopp screamed but readied his slingshot, shooting down the offenders.

"Nami-swaan!" Sanji shouted, his visible eye in the shape of a heart. "You look beautiful even when running for your life!"

"Ohohoho!" Brook laughed. "When you escape, may I see your p-"

"NO!" Nami shouted, interrupting him. "Get the ship ready to go!"

"This is where we part way, Zoro-sama!" The fishman said. "We'll take that ship over there. I wish you safe journey. And good luck getting away." He saluted to Zoro.

"Eh? Uh, yeah, you too." Was his response.

"You have my eternal gratitude. If you ever need my assistance, you may call me anytime. My name is Mash."

"Yeah!" Luffy shouted as Mash led the rest of the slaves towards a different ship. "Good luck! It was nice to meet you!" He waved happily. The five StrawHats, quickly jumped on board their ship, dodging gunfire.

"Set sail!" Luffy shouted, laughing happily. He obviously didn't grasp the fact that they were running for their lives.

There managed to pull away from the dock and head out to open sea but quickly discovered that they had to evade several navy ships. While Franky steered, the rest of them deflected the cannon balls away or back towards the ships they had originated from. A final 'gomu gomu no fussen' bounced a cannon ball back towards a navy ship, causing a loud explosion and a pillar of black smoke to block the remaining marine ships from chasing them.

"Whew." Nami sighed in relief as the navy ships shrank in the distance. "That was close."

"Yeah." Usopp nodded in agreement, leaning against the rail of the ship. "I thought I was a goner."

"It was rather dangerous." Robin agreed, sitting down at her favorite lawn chair. "If they had caught us, they would have tortured and executed us." She smiled.

"Eeh?!" Chopper shouted in fear while Brook laughed and pulled out his violin.

"I will play us a song, the song of narrowly escaping imprisonment and potential dismemberment! Ohohoho!" Luffy laughed and clapped along with the merry tune, disregarding the odd and somewhat morbid lyrics.

"Still, why were the marines chasing us? And who were all those people that were following your guys?" Sanji asked, drawing a puff of his cigarette.

"Yeah, why were those people chasing after us, Zoro?" Nami asked dangerously, turning towards their green-headed swordsman who had sat down, leaning against the mast casually.

"How should I know?" He asked, closing his eyes. "I never told them to follow me."

"Eh? So it was the stupid moss-head's fault that Nami-swan and Robin-chwan were in danger?"

"Eh?" Zoro sat up, getting ready for another fight with the cook. "How should a curly-browed pervert like you know either way?"

Nami cut them off before they could go any further. "What possessed you to free them, Zoro? It's not like you to go out of your way like that."

"I told you, I didn't do it on purpose." Zoro leaned back against the mast. "I was just minding my own business when some guards tried to fight me. They were just in my way."

"Where on earth did you wonder off to that a bunch of guards and slaves would have just been 'in your way' to the point that you had to free them and then run?"

Zoro shrugged and yawned. All that running left him tired. And Nami's nagging was irritating.

"Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed. "Don't yell at Zoro, Nami. He was just having some fun, probably. I wish I had been able to have fun like that."

"It wasn't fun!" Nami, Usopp, and Chopper all shouted over Luffy's laugh.

"There's no point in trying, Nami. What's happened has happened." Robin called calmly. She had already settled into one of her many books.

"As beautiful and calm as always, Robin-chwan!" Sanji spun in ridiculous ballet moves, offering her a fruity drink he had made.

"What I want to know is who that girl is?" Luffy asked, pointing.

"Eh? What girl?" They all followed Luffy's finger to discover a small girl, probably 7 or 8, in dirty and tattered clothes, messy black hair that probably hadn't seen a brush in years, and a tell-tale slave mark on the right side of her neck. She was standing to the left of the mast that Zoro was currently leaning against.

There was a moment of silence as they all stared at the girl.

"EEEEH?!"

And that's chapter one. It was pretty long. Writing the interactions between so many different characters is tiresome. I have to think about who would say what when. And I figured that Zoro would be the one to accidently free a whole bunch of slaves. Only he would get lost like that.

Review please!