Chapter 2

Mother.

Zoro rolled that unfamiliar word around in his mouth. Mother, mother.

In his previous life, he had no mother. Of course, being human, he wasn't born alone, so she did exist, but there was nothing about her left in his memory. The same was true for his father. He had no recollection of what kind of person he was, what he said, or what his last moments were like.

Zoro didn't even remember their names and had to ask the villagers. His mother was named Tera, and his father was Roronoa Arashi. Tera had died of illness when Zoro was one year old, and not long after, Roronoa Arashi was killed in a battle with pirates who raided their village.

He felt no particular emotion about this. There was nothing to miss, be sad about, or hurt by since he didn't remember anything, so he was just indifferent.

He did clean their graves and leave flowers occasionally, but, well. It wasn't that Zoro held any deep feelings or emotions for them. It was merely the minimum duty as their child.

"~♬"

Chie hummed a little tune as she prepared formula in a bottle. Therefore, Zoro, now well into his twenties, didn't quite know how to interact with his newfound biological mother. It wasn't that he disliked her, but, somehow, it felt awkward.

"It's ready! Our Zoro must be hungry. Let's eat quickly."

"Uh-huh."

He wanted to respond, but being a baby, only an unintelligible babble came out. Zoro's face turned red. Chie smiled broadly.

"Did you answer Mommy? Our Zoro is so good."

She picked Zoro up and put the bottle of formula to his mouth.

It was a bit, actually, quite embarrassing, but it would have been a thousand times more embarrassing if Chie had tried to breastfeed him, so Zoro quietly sucked on the formula. Watching him intently, Chie spoke up.

"Our Zoro is so pretty."

"...!"

He almost choked. Zoro glared at Chie after managing to gulp down the formula, but his blurry vision could still clearly see the affection, causing him to cool down immediately.

Yeah, to her, he's the child she bore, unaware that the spirit inside is that of a man in his twenties, a former pirate... Zoro resigned himself to the situation.

The first day was even worse than this. Suddenly remembering that day, he thought about the day he was born.

On the day of Zoro's birth, Chie cried a lot. Despite not knowing where he was or what had happened, the thought crossed his mind that crying so much must be exhausting.

The nurse repeatedly said the baby needed to be taken away, but Chie continued to hold Zoro in her arms and cry.

"I'm so relieved, my baby. So very relieved... Thank you for coming safely to Mommy's side."

She kept repeating those words.

'It's not as desperate now.'

Yet, the affection she showed Zoro remained unchanged.

A large figure appeared behind Chie. From its size and general shape, it was clearly a big man. Familiar with the figure, Zoro focused on finishing his formula.

The man approached Chie's side and asked,

"Doesn't your wrist hurt?"

"It's just for a while as I feed him the formula. It's fine. Do you want to hold him, Toji?"

The man, called Toji, was silent for a moment before he flatly replied,

"No."

"Why? Try holding him."

Zoro turned his gaze to look up at the man's face.

Like Chie, the details of the man's face were unclear to Zoro's imperfect vision. The only discernible features were his jet-black hair and large build.

It was a bit of a dilemma. Zoro needed to know more about this man, Toji.

After all, he was his father in this life.

"..."

Although the details of his expression were not visible, it was clear from Chie's words that Toji had stiffened significantly. Zoro's Observation Haki hadn't developed in a way to sense people's emotions like Luffy or the cook Sanji, but such an overt reaction was noticeable even without such skills.

The reason was obvious, as Toji typically reacted this way when looked at. His body stiffened while being stared at.

'Is it dislike, or is he wary?'

Or perhaps there was another reason.

So far, Toji had never attempted to harm Zoro or Chie, so there was no particular resentment. However, Zoro was somewhat curious about the reason.

Zoro looked at Toji quietly and then reached out his hand towards him, wanting to see him closer. Of course, his body, only days old, didn't move as he wished, and his hand flailed in the air for a moment.

"Look at that. Zoro is looking for his dad too. Hold him for a bit, Toji."

Toji hesitated.

"What's wrong, Toji?"

"He's too small. Fragile."

Chie laughed softly.

"Are you worried that Zoro will shrink if you hold him? As long as you don't squeeze too hard, he won't get hurt. Just try holding him."

As if passing a baton, Chie handed Zoro over to Toji. Big, rigid hands held Zoro.

It was an awkward stance that clearly showed a lack of experience. It seemed like he needed to relax his grip, but he was too afraid of letting go, resulting in a half-hearted hold.

Thick arms came closer. A hand that had been hesitantly hovering over Zoro's head briefly touched his cheek, then retracted as if burned.

"..."

He doesn't dislike me. Zoro thought.

Naturally, a question followed.

If he doesn't dislike me, why did he act that way?

Zoro looked up at Toji with a frown. Times like these made him particularly frustrated with a newborn's blurry vision. If only he could see the face clearly, he might understand something.

The wandering palm eventually found its way, slowly stroking down Zoro's back.

Burp.

A burp slipped out from Zoro's mouth without him realizing it, causing his face to heat up. Of course, Chie had said it was good for babies to burp after feeding. But still!

Toji stiffened for a moment, then let out a small laugh. It wasn't a sneer, but a laugh filled with warmth and a touch of pride.

That laugh was very similar to Chie's.

He gently tapped Zoro's back with his hand in a slow rhythm, similar to what Chie had done. It was as if saying it was okay to continue. Zoro hunched his body, his face flushed red.

He was embarrassed. Very much so.