Part one - Roronoa Zoro 2/??
The blow was so strong that the green-haired swordsman was unable to keep the swords in his hands. His fingers trembled, his grip loosened and the swords slipped out of his hands and fell to the sand, and he himself, tumbling along the sandy shore, flew into the nearby thickets and hit the tree with such force that it could not stand it. Crunching hard, a tall, spreading palm tree collapsed in the opposite direction from coughing up blood Zoro.
This time it took him much longer to recover. For a long time, by the standards of a battle, it was a whole eternity - his mind was floating dangerously to the very brink. Shadowy midges flew in front of his eyes, and there was blood in his mouth. However, second by second, he was getting better and better. The blood in the mouth didn't go anywhere, but the vision acquired clarity and the black midges disappeared. Gradually, the ability to think coherently returned. And as soon as this happened, he again managed to understand several important things.
First, he missed the second hit. If the first could still be attributed to the unexpectedness of the attack and his relaxation, then he waited for the second, but this did not affect the final result. Secondly, if the first blow was extremely strong, then the second almost sent him to meet the forefathers. Until this day, Zoro did not even suspect that there was a person in the world who could beat with such monstrous force - after such blows, not bruises, but corpses remain! If someone else were in his place, just a little weaker, and one corpse in the world would have become more, without options! Thirdly, despite his readiness, he again did not see the blow ... and indeed the movement of the guy in the straw hat. One instant he stands at a distance of several meters from him, and in the next instant he himself flies off from a monstrous blow. And finally, fourthly, what the fuck ?! Is he a whipping boy ?! Over the past ten years, since the death of Kuina - his childhood friend and rival in the art of swordsmanship - he has somehow managed to wean himself from the feeling of defeat, as well as from the feeling of his own weakness. And now Zoro did not like at all that someone undertook to remind him of his long-forgotten feelings and sensations.
Literally growling with the anger that was choking him - while he himself did not know for sure who he was more angry with, either himself or the guy in the hat - he got to his feet. Taking out of the scabbard his third and most valuable sword, which once belonged to Kuina, Zoro, breaking through the bushes, got out to the sandy shore of the bay ... got out and immediately realized who exactly he was angry with. At the guy! The guy in the straw hat! The guy who was again sitting with a fishing rod in his hands, on a stone sticking out of the water. As if Zoro himself had never appeared here at all! In addition, what infuriated the green-haired swordsman even more was his two swords left lying in the sand. The guy in the hat didn't even pick them up! Where they fell, there they lay like some kind of unnecessary garbage.
Zoro felt a veil of fury fill his gaze. Wasted no time, he thrust the hilt of Kuina's sword into his mouth, and rushed towards the guy in the hat sitting on the stone. Grabbing his swords lying on the sand on the way, in the blink of an eye he was directly above the Straw Hat - as he had already mentally christened his victim - which, it seemed, did not even notice him. Perhaps another time Zoro would have given him a favor, but not today. Now he was going to just cut this bastard in half, and he knew that it would make him incredibly happy.
- Tora Gari (Tiger Hunt)! - slashed with all three swords Zoro, using one of his most powerful techniques.
The attack turned out well. Not only the stone was cut in half, but the water in front of it ... and even the bottom of the bay ... in other words, literally everything but the most important was cut in half.
- Wah-ah ... - came from behind Zoro. - You cut my stone! And where am I going to fish now?
Involuntarily clenching the hilts of swords in his hands, the green-haired swordsman slowly turned to the guy in the hat standing behind him, who was now studying with interest the two halves of the once large solid boulder sticking out of the water. On the right shoulder of the Straw Hat was a fishing rod, and in his left hand he held a folding chair and a very large bucket, half filled with water, in which was visible a single small fish. At the moment of the attack, the bucket stood nearby, and he, in turn, was sitting with a fishing rod in his hands, on the same folding chair that he was now holding in one hand with the bucket. And that was fucking saying a lot.
Zoro bit harder on the sword hilt in his mouth.
- Hey, you have three swords! - Said the Straw Hat again. - Sorry, I didn't immediately realize who you are ...
As soon as he heard these words, Zoro realized that the guy in front of him finally recognized him. And this is not surprising. As mentioned, in East Blue he was a fairly well-known swordsman. Zoro's Three Swords or "Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro. And if the guy completely agreed with the first nickname - after all, during the battles, he really used three swords at once - then with the second not very much. He only hunted pirates when he needed money for food and drink, but in fact he didn't care about them. Zoro was just following his goal, nothing else. However, the most important thing is that the guy in the hat, after all, finally ...
"… You came to get a job at the local circus, right? Considering how dexterous you are with three swords at once, I think you will be very successful. By the way, did you try to take even more? I once read a story about a man who was carrying eight swords with him at once, and another book described the "Technique of Infinite Swords" in general. Cool, yeah?"
…recognized him…
Zoro gripped the hilt of the sword between his teeth to the point of cracking. He honestly tried to hold back. He's a swordsman. Only calmness, harmony with nature and oneself. Calm and harmony - everything is as taught by the teacher ...
"... Or are you a swordsman after all?"
… Calmness… harmony….
- Doesn't your pride forbid you to attack from behind?
... c-calmness ... h-harmony ...
- Yes, even unarmed?
... assho ... gar-gar-gr-r ...
- Although if you are still going to get a job in the circus, it means that you cannot be considered a swordsman, and therefore it is quite possible for you to beat in the back and attack an unarmed one.
- TORA GARI (TIGERE HUNTING) !!! ONI GIRI (DEMON CUTTER) !!! TATSUMAKI (DRAGON VORTEX) !!! SANTORYU: TORONAGASHI (THREE SWORD STYLE: WOLF Wounded) !!! TORA GARI (TIGERE HUNTING) !!! ONI GIRI (DEMON CUTTER) !!!
...
-… TATSUMAKI (DRAGON VORTEX) !!!
- Aren't you tired there yet? Fifteen minutes have passed. Honestly, I have never seen such a strong circus performer in my life. Have you ever thought about becoming a swordsman? It seems to me that it would suit you much more, otherwise you will scare all the children in the circus with your mug ... And adults too.
—SANTORYUOGI: SANZENSEKAI (THE SECRET TECHNIQUE OF THREE SWORDS STYLE: THREE THOUSAND WORLDS) !!!
- But now it was really powerful, I admit! - looking at the left clearing among the trees, the guy in the hat nodded approvingly.
- Who ... ha-a, ha-a ... but who are you ?! - literally growled pretty battered and tired swordsman.
- I'm Monkey D. Luffy! - proudly puffing out his chest, finally, the black-haired boy in a straw hat officially introduced himself. - The man who will become the Pirate King!
After such a performance, Zoro completely lost all desire for further battle ... if everything that happened during the last thirty minutes could be called a battle at all. Taking a deep breath, he sheathed his swords, and then stretched out exhausted on the sand, right where he stood. The kid in the hat, Luffy, did it a little differently. Approaching the boulder cut by Zoro, the two halves of which continued to stick out of the water, he kicked one of the halves with relish. The stone folded together - only a small hole remained at the cut site - after which he climbed onto the boulder, put the bucket on one half and, spreading his chair on the other, sat down to fish again. As if there were no literally plowed bay, chopped and broken trees, and a heavy breathing swordsman, who was now lying exhausted on the sand, trying to normalize his breathing.