Summary: For once Zoro finds himself thinking deeply about his role as first mate, and thus the past and the future along with the passing of the late Gol D. Roger, and the former Pirate King's first mate, Silvers Rayleigh. Pre-Time-skip. Zoro's POV. Rated T to be safe. (A writing exercise.)

You might shallowly assume with a roll of the eyes and twitch in the corners of the mouth that Zoro's thoughts consisted only of numbers up in the crow's nest. Rep numbers, to be more specific, and perhaps any imminent dangers or interests within a certain radius of the Thousand Sunny, and even nothing if you are also to assume that Zoro is no more than a snoring statue. To give our favorite swordsman credit, he wasn't shallow. Insane? Do you even have to ask. Smart? Maybe combat-smart. Simple-minded? Yeah, but you kind of had to be if you wanted to survive on the Grand Line, or rather, fit in with the Strawhat crew. Apathetic and lazy? Yes, and no.

There's a time for everything. A time to slack off and swear at bitching, orange-haired misers, and slash at curly blondes. A time to yell profanities at trespassers who scream incessantly and run around, trying to force him into joining their foolish games. There were times to step up to the plate and tell people what's what. There were times to interfere in fights, and leave certain fights alone without protest no matter what, despite the bleeding rage tearing physically and mentally at Zoro, and other people close by– like those times Luffy told them not to interfere with his fights.

Basically, there were times when Zoro just had to think, especially about the future. He usually avoided it, limiting those moments to motivational thoughts of his promises and important people: Kuina and Sensei, Mihawk, the Straw-hat Crew and especially his captain…even Rika sometimes. He mainly relived promises he made to himself or to others, or briefly stated without any doubt that those same promises would be fulfilled in the future whenever that would be. Everything else was a bit too sentimental for his tastes, although his life as a Strawhat had added more humor to his days.

Zoro didn't think much about these things. He wasn't shallow, but he wasn't that deep either. He acted spontaneously and relied on gut instinct. He took things as they were, and if the circumstances were not to his liking, he merely changed them. All he saw was the finish line. It was stupid to think about what lay beyond the goal, but Zoro found that there was one such subject that took his thoughts beyond its usual, disciplined restrictions. Lately he had been thinking about the former pirate king and his crew, or more specifically, the former pirate king and his first mate.

Gol D. Roger and Silvers Rayleigh. Zoro hadn't thought much about the authority he represented within the Strawhats, but after meeting Rayleigh a sort of desire–no, need–to think about what it truly meant to be first mate beyond becoming the world's greatest swordsman by Luffy's side, nagged at Zoro's mind.

Zoro knew from the beginning that he would be the first mate, whether or not he wanted that at all. It wasn't even official, but he had been the first of 8 to put his trust in–and give his life to–a moron with a straw hat. He was also the strongest next to Luffy. Hah. Take that ero-cook. Naturally, as the first, he had also agreed in an instant to a larger responsibility. He wasn't in denial–denial was for the weak–but it wasn't like he completely acknowledged it either. Things were just this way. It was his duty and he would fulfill it appropriately.

Zoro had always been aware of honor and etiquette that went along with being a pirate, a swordsman, and a man. He had never intended to be a pirate in the first place, but even pirates have a code of conduct no matter how sparse the rules may be next to the high class snobbery. Like the marines. Just because the list was shorter didn't mean the code was any less honorable. Some of the most prominent memories of the times he had stepped up to his assumed position included the Davy Back fight, or when the Strawhats had almost lost their sniper. It was moments like those that made everyone, and even himself, remember what Zoro represented in the group besides a crazy swordsman who loved training, sleeping, and drinking..and his swords…and his captain if his defiance in facing Bartholomew Kuma was to count for anything.

In any case, he was first mate. And so was Rayleigh. Rayleigh was undeniably strong, but he had followed a captain, a captain not unlike Luffy, the former Pirate King. So how was it that Gol D. Roger had managed to get himself caught by the marines, and so early? There was no way that Rayleigh wouldn't have given his life before he'd let the marines have his beloved captain's, so why was Rayleigh still alive? The answer wasn't difficult to figure out, but that didn't make it any easier to swallow.

Zoro cracked an eyelid, his good one, to gaze at the ceiling of the crow's nest. He could hear the usual chaos ensuing on the lawn below, and could sense Robin's presence in the library as well as Franky's in his workshop. The curly-bastard was torn between wiggling around Nami and kicking a hysterical Luffy for trying to steal from the kitchen before food had even exited the stove. Usopp was probably spewing another lie to the ever-gullible Chopper, and Brook's "yo-ho-ho-ho"s faded in and out between the other noises.

Yes, it was kind of hard to imagine. Luffy loved his nakama and his adventures and his meat like no other maniac. His dream was to be the Pirate King, but would Luffy meet the same fate as Roger? True, Roger had turned himself in due to his incurable disease. Zoro completely agreed with his decision. If he had been in the same predicament as the pirate king, he didn't doubt he would do something along the same lines if not the exact same thing. Although he might have had some fun before obviously surrendering.

But Zoro had not known Roger. Rayleigh had. And Zoro knew Luffy. When Rayleigh had revealed the story behind Roger's death, Zoro realized that the reason Rayleigh was so drawn to Luffy was that he felt a responsibility perhaps, but it ran much deeper than that. It didn't surprise Zoro in the slightest that Luffy and Roger shared more than the same aspiration of being the Pirate King, although it was technically more like Luffy wanted to find One Piece–whatever it was–and have the most freedom on the seas. More came from that than just a name heard round the world or even as high as the heavens, but that was what Luffy wanted and Zoro would be damned if he didn't see Luffy fulfill his dream. Funny, how Luffy always seemed to get what he wanted.

Zoro wasn't sure if he himself would ever suffer the same fate as Roger...well, on second thought, he would probably be killed by a brat who fought to reach his level, he supposed. In any case, it was a matter of controlling one's end. Mihawk knew Zoro would be the one to kill him; once Zoro was the best, some brat would come along and then he would know, like his predecessor had, that someday that same brat would be the end of him. And it wasn't so much about knowing, it was also wanting. There were plenty of times Mihawk could have killed Zoro, but he didn't. Hawkeye had even personally trained Zoro for two years. To no one else would the Shichibukai give the privilege of defeating him.

There was no question about it. Gol D. Roger had been the pirate to rule it all, and yet he died in Loguetown at the hands of marines he could have easily wiped out with or without haiku. It was almost a joke that he had been executed in such a way, especially because his crew did nothing about it. The Pirate King had died at the hands of cowards and sprung upon the world the great pirate era. This was Roger's wish, or so it seemed. Whether his wish was a bundle of desires all equally ranked, or a few desires ranked in a certain order, he had died. And yet, it had been honorable under the light of a sort of sickening, and yet truly manly–(romantic, really, but Zoro leaves that to the ero-cook)–logic. Perhaps that was Roger's way of determining his successor, in a sort of impersonal way. Of course.

He had exalted himself to the seat of legends, a god even. His story was the sort of tale that would confuse the youth of future generations. The uninformed wouldn't be able to understand why such a certainly strong man would willingly die at the hands of his pathetic enemy–not that many children would hear that side of the story, or even think that far...

…It was plausible, Zoro decided. Luffy was unpredictable after all and tended to do stupid things for stupid reasons, but that didn't mean that Luffy was actually stupid. Every once in a while the red-vested teen surprised everyone with his maturity, no matter how simple-minded the logic behind his actions was. Luffy was a straw-hatted dreamer, but he was fulfilling his dream and Zoro would be there when Luffy reached the finish line. There was nothing else that Zoro could anticipate more than that. Luffy's dream had become Zoro's dream, exalted above beating Mihawk, and Zoro was confident that the other Strawhats felt the same way. If he died protecting Luffy's dream, it only meant that Zoro was never worthy of defeating the world's greatest swordsman. He had always known that (and luckily he had survived Kuma's gracious, agonizing ordeal), but he knew he would beat the hawk-eyed shichibukai be it before or after Luffy's dream was completed…

Zoro paused, blinking slowly. Luffy's dream had become his crew's. Had the crew's dreams become Luffy's as well? Not just as something separate from his lifelong decision to become the pirate king, but also as an all-important part? Would that mean that, if Luffy was to have the same fate as Gol D. Roger, whether he contracted a disease or not, he would wait for his crew to complete their dreams?

Zoro didn't think it was possible for Luffy to contract a disease that serious, unless it was specifically designed to ruin his rubber body or any devil-fruit user. Besides, it was Chopper's dream to cure any disease, and Luffy would die at the hands of marines before he let Chopper think he couldn't do so...

The corner of Zoro's mouth deepened for a split second. There would be other times to think about that. For now it would be best to simply–

"Meshi! Meshi!"

"Oi, marimo-freak! Get your ass out-

Lunch time then. That aho-cook was gonna get it this time for sure.

Author's note: this is an older work of mine. When I have an idea, it's easier for me to understand my own opinion if I write it out. This is a theory I mentioned briefly to Chikage Zorobin in response to a review from my last story No Reason. Basically, its simply a matter of controlling one's death (and the ramifications caused by one's death) and possibly a foreshadowing to Luffy's.

I almost posted something in honor of Christmas, but it was a last minute thought that didn't end up formulating in time ^^ Maybe next year?

Thanks for your support! This is Misakike-chi, over and out!