So, this is the final chapter, guys.

I hope you enjoyed the story and thank you all for sticking with me to the end. I am grateful for each single comment, favo, and follow and maybe we see each other on another project ;-)

Till then have a great time

Sharry

Epilogue

"Hurry up, Zoro!"

"I'm coming, stop being so annoying!"

Zoro let himself be dragged along by his captain over the lawn on deck of the Thousand Sunny. He had returned yesterday. Now they were on the high seas, on their way to another adventure.

The past night had been very difficult for him and still he could hardly believe that his nightmare was over, that the man, who had haunted him all his life, who had killed two of his crew members, was now defeated.

It had been tough last night. He knew that their actions did not erase his past. There was still much to be talked about, many conflicts to clear up. He noticed it whenever Franky was near him; the cyborg inspected him mostly suspiciously, but he did say nothing.

Robin, on the other hand, had avoided any conversation so far, which had not been particularly complicated, because she had retreated to the library for reading and Zoro could not follow her, as Usopp, Luffy and Chopper were constantly following him around and pestering him with any questions they could think of.

They wanted to know everything about him, the dragons, his old crew, they never stopped. Even when they went to bed late, Luffy had leaned down to him from his upper bunk and asked him the most ridiculous things.

Zoro knew he would have to answer all those questions at some point, but at the moment he didn't want to think too much about things from his past but stay in the present. The days he had spent apart from the crew had reminded him how important they were to him.

Arriving in the galley, a feast awaited him, all the crew members were present, Rayleigh too, whom they would probably drop off on the next island.

"What's going on?" he grumbled, and actually wanted to be annoyed that they interrupted his training because of something like this. He wanted to return to normality, as normal as it could be with this crew, but these celebrations, well...

"Don't blame us," the cook directly grumped back, standing in the galley with a cigarette and probably able to read Zoro's face too well. "If you hadn't blown our last 'Welcome Back Party', we wouldn't have to throw another one."

He sounded quite annoyed, but the corners of his mouth shifted to a crooked grin, before he took another draw from his cigarette.

Like a few weeks earlier, they toasted to him, each of them lifting their glasses, and then the celebration began. Considering that they were only ten, they managed to wreak havoc.

Chopper and Luffy danced on the tables, their mouths crammed with sticky rice cakes. Franky and Brook sat next to them and played music enthusiastically while Usopp sang the 81st verse of 'Sogeking's heroics deeds'.

Nami and Robin chatted happily with Rayleigh, who looked much younger that night than during the last few days. If Zoro ignored the white beard, his friend looked almost like his vice-captain from all those years ago.

Sighing, he turned to his beer.

Then his gaze slid on his left hand. Although he couldn't see it right now, the dragon mark was always there, whether he was walking around as a human or not, he could no longer hide his true nature. One day he would have to fulfill his mission and make the dragon bud bloom, only this way he could save his species.

But not today; not today, and not tomorrow.

Maybe Rayleigh was actually right. Perhaps his legacy did not mean that he had to give up everything else.

From the corner of his eye, he watched Luffy dance.

Perhaps it was alright for him to fulfil his dream, to become the greatest swordsman in the world, and perhaps only perhaps he would be there when his captain was to create a new world, as his former captain had done before.

Perhaps he would be there when this world was to become a different one; a world in which the dragon bud could bloom.

I think it was fate that we met.

Fate?

He still didn't know what that term meant.

Was it fate that he had met Roger and Rayleigh? That time had taken a different course for him than it should? That he had forgotten the burden on his shoulders with which he had been born into this world? That Luffy had met him?

He sighed deeply and leaned back a little, looking at his crew, no, his friends.

Fate.

"Why such a long face?"

Surprised, he turned to the side. Next to him stood the cook, who leaned forward to fill up Zoro's glass.

"Not thinking about dumping us again, I hope," the blond murmured unenthusiastically.

The swordsman huffed quietly and forgot his thoughts for a moment.

"Would be pointless. Luffy would come after me again sooner or later. After all, he's the captain." Zoro took a sip. "And only he decides who is allowed to leave the crew and who's not."

The cook leaned against the back of the chair next to Zoro and nodded sincerely. Then the other looked at him seriously.

"Just to be clear," Sanji said, not breaking the eye contact for a second, "Nami was completely out of her mind because of your solo trips and I don't even want to talk about Robin."

The other slammed his own mug on the table.

"If you pull off such crap again, I will cover your swords with bronze and throw them into the sea, understood?"

Zoro almost chocked on his beer over such a mean threat.

"Don't you dare..." He stood up. "If you got a problem with me, come at me, but leave my swords out of it!"

Daring, he opened both arms, but to his surprise the other just smiled and waved it off.

"What? What do you want, cook?!"

Swiftly, one or two crewmembers seemed to look over to them, but obviously the situation was not serious enough for anyone to intervene.

"It's good that you're still you," the blond said with a mischievous grin. "I was already worried that we had lost the swordsman Roronoa Zoro to the dragon Bronze for good."

These words hit Zoro unprepared. He tilted his head, but then turned his gaze away. Of course, he was Zoro; as Zoro he was their crew member, but no one here had asked for Bronze, no one had asked Bronze to join the crew.

Could they ever accept, that he was also Bronze?

"Tze, of course."

Surprised, he looked at the chef, who shook his head.

"You're not just Zoro, I get that. You are Bronze." Now Sanji pushed himself off the back rest and stood in front of him. "But you're not just Bronze either, you're also Zoro. You are both. So, don't forget this other part, understood?"

The cook turned around and walked over to the storeroom.

"What, you're some kind of ugly furniture, Marimo? Use your legs and follow me."

The blond waved him over.

It took Zoro a few seconds to process those words, not even noticing that the other one had just insulted him, but then he finally followed the cook. In the narrow pantry it was much quieter than in the dining room. He had no idea what the chef wanted from him, but if this was supposed to be a sneak attack, the cook would regret it.

"What's going on?" He murmured wary, but the cook ignored him as he browsed through the shelves of the small chamber.

"Somewhere here I must have placed it," the other muttered to himself.

"Cook, what's are we doing here?"

"Ah! Here it is!" The other pushed two wheels of cheese to the side on the bottom shelf and jumped up in excitement, hitting his head lightly against the upper shelf.

Then he turned to Zoro, rubbing his head with one hand and offering something with his other.

"You forgot this, and it belongs to you as much as your swords, right?"

He held a bottle wrapped in a black cloth. Wordlessly, the swordsman took the sake bottle and loosened his headscarf.

But then he noticed what bottle he was holding. It wasn't the same sake he had left behind as a message. This one had a blue label and even now in his hand the bottle felt almost cold.

"What the…?"

The chef smiled.

"Just for once, Zoro, just for once."

He looked astonished at the blond. The bottle in his hand had to cost a small fortune.

"Cook?" he muttered breathlessly, and the other grinned even wider.

"So, don't you dare running off again, understood? Because then I will have to get your bounty to pay my debts back to my lovely Nami."

The blond pushed past him towards the door.

"By the way, you still have to tell me what you eat as a dragon. I'm responsible for the crew's care after all."

Zoro followed him, still speechless.

"Sounds good, doesn't it?"

Confused, he glanced at the other one.

"Greatest swordsman in the world; Roronoa Zoro, the last dragon."