Chapter 1

A Sudden Introduction

A huge gust of wind suddenly blew through the cobbled streets of Loguetown. It tore along the buildings on its way towards the sea, leaving chaos in its wake. People and shop fronts alike jostled Zoro as he flew by, pushed along by the hurricane-force current. The green haired swordsman had tried moving in a specific direction by grabbing onto any ledge or door frame he could reach, but had quickly given that up since it seemed that the wind was going to blow him where it wanted. He let out a grunt as he was flung against a wall and dragged along its smooth surface, white flecks of stone and paint catching on his shirt as he flew by. The man tightened his grip on his swords and brought his elbow up to keep the debris from flying into his eyes.

"Where the hell did this wind come from!?" his shout was whisked away as soon as it left his mouth.

He couldn't think of anything that could have caused a wind of such force to occur, except the storm that was blowing in. All he could recall was that he'd been fighting the marines… Tashigi. That damn woman, he thought with a frown as the all too familiar figure of the marine rose in his mind's eye, why does she look so much like her? Zoro's uncomfortable thoughts were interrupted as he crashed into the ground. With little more than an inconvenienced grunt, he stood up and brushed the dirt off his shirt.

"Now where did everybody else go?" he glanced down the street, "They've probably gotten lost again."

Bits of building and debris from the houses around him littered the cobblestones on all sides, masking the clean grey road that had been there moments before. As the storm lulled and the wind died down, some citizens of Loguetown slowly began to filter out to commence the cleanup. But they were quickly driven back into their homes by the pouring rain and menacing clouds. Zoro surveyed the street, and then his eyes fell to an exceptionally large pile of broken beams at his feet.

"Here," a weak voice responded from behind him, "And you're the last person who should be saying that."

"Yeah, just move your head, Moss Head," another voice muttered darkly.

Turning, Zoro saw that the wind had blown him where he'd wanted to end up anyways. He'd found his crew again. Usopp, the one who had spoken first, was trying to extricate himself from the pile of fallen beams with the help of Sanji. Zoro didn't bother offering a retort to either of them and turned his attention to his captain. Luffy, standing at the edge of the woodpile and looking none the worse for wear, was dusting off his hat and placing it on his head.

"Well that was fun," the rubberboy laughed, a wide grin plastered onto his young face.

Zoro let out a grunt and checked his swords. The crew was fine, the captain was fine; they should leave this town now. He was about to voice this thought when a sharp cry came through the driving rain.

"Help me!"

The swordsman's head jerked upwards and quickly found the source of the sound, squinting as his eyes focused in on a dark spot sticking out against the grey clouds. There was something, no, there was someone in the sky! He could make out three limbs flailing wildly.

"Help!" came the cry again, louder this time. Zoro could hear it clearly above the rain pounding down and the wind that had started to pick up again.

"Who is that?" asked Usopp, craning his neck upwards and adjusting some weird goggle's that were strapped onto his head. Zoro decided to ignore the new contraption and returned his attention to the sky.

"Whoever it is, they're falling pretty fast," he muttered, "They'll kill themselves for sure." His body reflexively stiffened as something suddenly stretched past his head.

"I'll get 'em!" Luffy's laughing voice sped by as the rubberboy shot up into the air, his arms still elastically stretched out behind him.

"That idiot," Zoro cursed as he watched Luffy collide with the falling person with too much force, causing them to fall at a faster rate. Taking matters into his own hands, the swordsman jumped into the path of his plummeting captain. The rubberboy's arms had wrapped around the stranger and Luffy was holding them securely. Zoro spread his arms and caught the two of them, then he let out a surprised grunt as the force of the collision sent them crashing into a nearby building. Rubble and bodies flew everywhere and Zoro wondered once again why he had agreed to join this stupid idiot's crew. Once the dust had settled, Zoro found himself underneath someone.

"Hey, move will you," he grunted as he started to push the person off of him, thinking it was Luffy.

The figure let out a small whimper as they started to move. Zoro could make out a mass of long brown hair and a black leather jacket. Not Luffy, his mind drew the correct conclusion.

"Oi, move it," he snapped at the pile of hair. A hand came up and brushed the hair out of the person's face, revealing a girl. She looked up at Zoro through glazed green eyes.

"Where is he?" she gasped, her mouth twisted in a painful grimace.

Zoro frowned at her. "What the hell are you talking about?" he muttered, pushing himself up into a sitting position. The girl whimpered again and fell sideways off of him.

"Oooh! An angel has fallen from the sky!" Sanji's eyes became hearts and he rushed towards the pair of them.

Zoro saw Sanji coming and glared at him, more out of habit than anything. He placed his hand on the ground, intending to get up (he had no desire to be around the shitty cook when he was all crazy over a woman) but the girl's hand suddenly lunged out, grabbing a hold of his wrist and trapping it in a vice-like grip. Zoro's eyes widened as her chin fell and scraped on the ground. The arm she had used to grab him had been the only one supporting her, and now the swordsman could see why; her other arm was disabled by a piece rope. From the looks of the pulley tied to one end of it, the frayed twine used to be attached to a ship. But now it was twisted tightly around the girl's body and left arm, pinning it to her side. Usopp seemed to notice this at the same time Zoro did.

"Hey," the sniper advanced towards the girl and bent down, "Are you okay? Why are you tied up?"

The girl's hair fell down in front of her eyes and she shook her head distractedly to push it out of the way. "Please help me," she gasped, her gaze directed at the area to the left of Zoro's head.

Usopp cast a nervous glance back at Luffy, who was staring at the girl with an intent expression on his usually carefree features. When the captain offered no response, the sniper looked to Zoro for any orders on how to proceed with dealing with this person who'd just fallen from the sky. The swordsman gave the obviously injured girl another once over and shrugged his shoulders.

"She won't try anything," he muttered.

Usopp nodded and quickly began untying the rope that bound her. The girl lifted her head and stared at Zoro with unfocused eyes. She didn't seem to be aware of Usopp, who was gently lifting her so he could get the rope free. She was having trouble keeping her head up and her breath was hissing through her teeth in shallow bursts.

"Please," she panted, "Take me to Luffy."

This request took Zoro a little by surprise. But then again, Luffy had a wanted poster now, so random strangers would recognize him from that. The girl was still struggling to meet his gaze, her face uplifted, and he could clearly make out her features. Her hair was dark brown and wavy, falling half way down her back. Her bangs were tied back in a loose braid going down the left side of her head, but despite this, freed strands kept falling into her eyes. Zoro's gaze traveled down the black leather jacket and over a blue shirt and grey shorts. A flash of light suddenly appeared at her neck, but her hair was covering the area and Zoro couldn't make out what it had been.

"Oi, Luffy," the swordsman turned his head to address his captain, "She wants to see you."

"Huh?" Luffy nodded his head and came forward to stand behind the stranger.

The girl winced as she tried to pull herself up; she didn't seem to hear him. "I've finally found him," she whispered, almost to herself. Her eyes focused a little bit and her gaze met Zoro's. "You're part of his crew, aren't you?" she asked, sounding a little worried, "You are Roronoa Zoro?"

"Uh…" Zoro grunted, then he gave her a curt nod and stood up. He didn't like the way she looked at him, or the way her hand was still gripping his wrist. He shook her off and stepped back.

"Please," the girl groaned, her hand slipped and she fell back onto the ground, "Take me to your captain."

"Okay, okay," Zoro snapped, "He's right here."

The girl smiled and pushed herself up with her hand again. Then her face contorted in pain and she slumped forward. Zoro's arm shot out on instinct and wrapped around her shoulders before she hit the ground.

"Hey, what gives?" he snapped, pulling her up with a frown, "If you can't move, stop trying."

The girl's head tilted back onto his arm and he saw that her eyes were closed and her breath was slowing. Her hand fell heavily against his forearm and Zoro noted her elegant looking fingers were clenched into fists. He laid her down and stepped back, having had enough of dealing with the fainting girl. Luffy stepped closer and bent over her, a bright, determined look in his eyes. Suddenly, his hands reached out and grabbed her shoulders, flipping her over and pressing her face into the cobblestones.

"Hey, Luffy!" Usopp scrambled forward, "Why'd you do that to her?!"

But the snipers worry paled in comparison to the flames leaping from Sanji's eyes.

"You idiot!" the cook kicked Luffy so hard that the rubberboy slammed into the building and left a hole where his head collided, "How dare you handle a lady so roughly!"

The cook quickly bent down and righted the unconscious girl, caressing her face in his hands. Zoro lost interest in the situation, though he did find Luffy's actions a tad confusing, and found his gaze moving to the sea before them. The Merry was coming up on their right. Perfect, we can leave now, he thought. His attention turned back when Luffy made a declaration.

"She's coming with us," the rubberboy stated, extricating himself from the wall and rubbing his cheek, "What gives, Sanji?"

Usopp's eyes widened. "What?" he stammered, "Just like that? We don't even know who she is!"

"You know damn well what, you idiot," snapped Sanji, his eyes burning into Luffy, then he swooned and looked quite pleased, "Of course she's coming with us! She's a beautiful lady!"

Zoro just shrugged. If that's what Luffy wanted, then she would come with them. But his eyes returned to the girl's face with renewed interest. Since she was going to be joining them, at least for a short while, she was now someone he should know about. He frowned at a trickle of blood falling down from a cut on her slightly parted lips.

Just then they heard a voice coming in on the wind. "Guys!"

"That was Nami-san!" Sanji cried and swooped the stranger up into his arms, "We must return to her with our new nakama!"

"Oi," Zoro muttered, "Moving a little fast there aren't you, Curly Brows?"

Was the idiot cook really so blinded by women that he considered them all to be nakama even when they didn't even know this one's name? Zoro just didn't understand this guy.

"Eh?" Sanji glared at him and grit his teeth, "What'd you say, you idiot?!"

Blond collided with green as they butted heads and Zoro reached for his swords.

"Guys, you can fight once we're on board," Usopp butted in between the two growling men, "We need to get on the Merry now! Look how far she already is!"

This dilemma was enough for Zoro to drop his side of the fight. It was true, they needed to leave now. "Whatever," he grunted, "How do we get out there?"

"Shishishi, I'm on it!"

Uh oh, Zoro turned to see Luffy running back towards the collapsed building across the street. The captain grabbed onto a metal rafter sticking out from the wall and stretched out his arms. Zoro saw what was coming and his body tensed. He saw Sanji do the same out of the corner of his eye. Then he saw the cook glance at the girl in his arms with a startled look on his face.

"Geez, she's light as a feather," Sanji muttered under his breath.

Then Luffy's body shot back and scooped up the four of them in his expanded rubber body and they were catapulted, screaming, out to the Merry.

"Damn you, Luffy!" shouted Sanji as his feet landed heavily on the deck, the girl cradled neatly in his arms, "Are you trying to kill her?"

Zoro stumbled a bit, but grabbed onto the rail for support. Usopp landed face first on the planks and skidded into the mast. He offered a pained groan before leaping up and waving his finger angrily at the captain.

"Yeah, what's the big idea?!" the sniper yelled over the roaring wind, "None of us are made of rubber, you idiot!"

"Shishishi, sorry," smiled Luffy, getting up and brushing off his knees as Nami came running up to greet them.

"Guys!" the orange haired navigator gasped happily, before stopping short, "Who is that?" She was pointing to the girl in Sanji's arms. Her dark hair was spilling over the cook's elbow and blowing wildly in the wind, giving her pale face an almost spectral look.

"We've found a mystery woman, Nami-san," said Sanji, moving his hand to stroke the girl's hair.

At that moment, Luffy took the stranger from the cook and held her out to the navigator. Sanji's hand fell on empty air and he froze, trembling for a moment, before turning angrily to the rubberboy.

"What's the big idea?!" he roared, but was completely ignored by everyone on board.

"Here, Nami," Luffy held the girl's body out to the navigator, "She's hurt. We're keeping her."

Zoro had hung back from the group, staying at the rail and watching for anyone pursuing them. From this distance, he caught Luffy's hand moving frantically along the girl's back for a few seconds before he handed her over to Nami. But he refrained from saying anything.

"What?" Nami gasped as the new girl was thrust into her arms, "You can't just decide to keep someone Luffy, she's not a pet!"

The straw hat bobbed as Luffy shrugged and walked off towards the figurehead. "Hurry up! We gotta do something before we leave!" he called over his shoulder.

Nami shook her head and looked back to Zoro and Sanji. "Where did she come from?" she asked.

"She fell from the heavens," Sanji cooed as he clasped his hands together, his previous anger mostly forgotten.

Nami blinked, "What happened to her, she's bleeding! I'll put her in my room for now."

"Nami is so wonderful when she's caring!" Sanji called after her.

"Yeah, yeah," the navigator tried waving her hand, but couldn't manage with her full arms. She carried the girl into her room and put her down on the bed. "Well, I guess I'd better fix your lip," she muttered as she rummaged through a trunk looking for their first aid box. In the short time the navigator had been sailing with Luffy, she'd figured out that it was best to just roll with his ideas for the time being.

But this is a bit weird, even for him, Nami thought as she wiped the strange girl's face with a warm cloth, I hope this doesn't cause us any more trouble…