3 Part one - Roronoa Zoro 3/??

Ten minutes later, when, at last, the heart pounding somewhere in the throat area calmed down and the lungs stopped burning with fire, Zoro took a sitting position. Looking around, he focused his attention on the fishing guy. He looked completely harmless. Sixteen in appearance - in fact, a boy! - slightly above average height and athletic build, black disheveled hair, dark brown eyes and the most ordinary face, remembered only by a small scar under the left eye. An open flowered shirt with cut-off sleeves, slim, black and tucked up to the knees, jeans, open-toe flip-flops, a straw hat on his head, stylish sunglasses on the nose, some kind of pendant around his neck and a bracelet on his right arm. Of all the above, the guy's straw hat attracted the most attention. As noted by Zoro, it was quite old, and even a little shabby, with numerous, albeit barely noticeable, signs of repair. The hat did not look special - a hat is like a hat, in any market, for mere pennies, you can buy exactly the same, if not better - but, judging by how carefully it was restored, there was some kind of history connected with it. As a result, the guy looked like an ordinary boy, almost a kid. You won't even pay attention to that in a crowd. However, Zoro had already learned from his own experience how deceiving this "normal" impression is.

"Hey," he called to Luffy, " if you want to become the Pirate King, then you are a pirate? How much is given for your head?"

The last question worried swordsman especially strongly. Over the past year, he has seen many pirates with awards, great rewards! - but none of them were anywhere near as strong as this Luffy. Pirates with a reward of ten million - almost the maximum for these places - can't even stand next to him!

"I'll only start piracy in two years," Luffy waved his hand, "so there's no reward for me yet."

After hearing the answer, Zoro experienced a twofold sensation. On the one hand, he lost to a dry man without a reward, and on the other hand, this very man has simply not yet declared himself to the world. But when he declares ... fifty million ... no, even one hundred million! Or more? Zoro sincerely hoped for more, much, much more. Perhaps then he will cease to feel as weak as he felt now. Zoro again remembered Quinn and his constant defeats to her.

- Well, what about you? Luffy asked, continuing to stare at the float completely motionless on the water surface. - You're pretty good for a circus performer. I have never met anyone so strong in these places.

Surprisingly, this time Zoro was not at all upset by another comparison with a circus performer.

"You ... have you really never heard of me?" - instead of a direct answer, he asked a counter question ... and immediately realized how pitiful he sounded.

The voice and tone in which he sounded it reminded him of a small child seeking recognition from a strict parent. His face involuntarily began to blush from embarrassment and a wild desire to immediately sink into the ground appeared.

-No, I didn't, - Luffy said happily, abruptly interrupting Zoro's self-delusion. - What, should have?

- No ... probably, - the swordsman was completely blown away. - They call me "Three Swords " Zoro or "Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro ... have you heard? - with poorly concealed hope in his voice, he asked again.

"Um ... no, I didn't," Luffy replied nonchalantly, thus killing the green-haired boy's last hope. - So your name is Zoro? And you hunt pirates? Bounty Hunter? So, after all, not a circus performer?

- I'm not a hunter, it's just that when I need money, I catch pirates and hand them over to the marines, that's why they called me that. And I'm not a circus performer! You say you want to become the Pirate King?

"I don't want to, I will," Luffy corrected him in the same nonchalant tone.

- Yes? Well, I'm going to become the Greatest Swordsman in the World.

- The greatest swordsman? - Luffy was clearly interested, for the sake of this he even stopped staring at the float and turned his gaze directly to Zoro. - You?

"Yes," the swordsman nodded. In any other case, he would never have mentioned his dream, but considering that the guy sitting in front of him spoke calmly about his, now it seemed appropriate. - I made a promise to one person that someday I will definitely become the Greatest Swordsman in the World, and for the sake of fulfilling this dream, a year ago, I went to sea.

The bobber was completely forgotten, and Luffy, smiling broadly, turned fully towards Zoro.

- You know, and we are terribly alike! I also made a promise to one person that someday I would gather the best pirate crew in the world, and I myself would become the Pirate King. Shanks gave me this hat. - Luffy lifted the straw hat on his head slightly with one finger, - promising to return it when I became the Great Pirate. Of course, fuck him, not the hat, but I will definitely become the Pirate King. There are no options.

- Unfortunately, the person to whom I made my promise is no longer alive, - Zoro shook his head in response. - All that I have left of her is our dreams and her sword, - with these words, he pulled out from the loop on his belt a well-made sword with a white hilt, enclosed in a snow-white sheath.

- Hmm… it's a great sword, - after a few seconds of gazing, delivered his verdict Luffy. - But the other two are the most common.

- It is, - Zoro agreed. - I took them as trophies from a pirate ship. Nothing special.

- If you really want to become the most powerful swordsman in the world, then all your swords must be excellent, otherwise, at the most crucial moment, they will simply break. And you yourself do not bother to pump up. While you barely reach the C grade among weak swordsmen.

For several seconds, Zoro silently digested what he heard. He realized that he was called weak ... Even if a couple of minutes earlier Luffy called him strong ... No ... Not strong. Rather strong, but only in comparison with other ... other weaklings. Moreover, as it was quite obvious, the guy in the hat had his own, special, scale for measuring the strength of swordsmen ... and perhaps not only them.

- Up to C among weak swordsmen? - Finally, never realizing how weak he was called, he repeated the words of Luffy himself interrogatively.

- Judging by your strength, you can't cut steel yet, can you?

Zoro darkened sharply. Once he heard from his teacher about people capable of cutting steel with their sword, but he himself had never met such people. Quite frankly, he had already begun to doubt the veracity of all these rumors.

- I ... I can't cut steel, - literally pushing the words out of his throat, the guy admitted, clenching his fists tightly. - And I've never seen someone who could, - after a second pause, almost offended, he added, in order to somehow justify himself.

- Because we live in East Blue, - Luffy shrugged nonchalantly. - This sea is considered the weakest of all existing seas in the world. If you want to see real monsters, then you need to sail to the Grand Line.

Zoro, of course, has heard of the Grand Line. Who hasn't heard? The most mysterious sea in the world. And the most dangerous. There was only one continent in the world - the Red Line. It represented a perfect ring, encircling the planet from northeast to southwest, thus dividing it in half. In turn, the Grand Line, like the Red Line, encircled the planet, only from the northwest and southeast, which once again divided it in half, which formed four seas - East Blue, West Blue, North Blue and South Blue. And it was in East Blue that Zoro was born and lived.

- So, in your opinion, I am not even up to the average swordsman? He asked grimly.

The guy was sure for a long time that the title of the strongest was almost in his hands, but now ...

- Hmmm ... - Luffy drawled, folding his arms over his chest and tilting his head to one side. - I do not presume that my classification is the most correct classification in the world, but I divide all swordsmen into three categories: weak, medium and strong, and then I divide each of them into three more levels. Here you are, on this scale, in the area of ​​the third level of a weak swordsman. When you can cut the steel, you will go to the first level of the average swordsman. Master ranged attacks, and you will reach the second level of the average swordsman, and when you gain experience in using these techniques, you will reach the third level. Then, after you can, at least in the bud, master either the armament haki or the observation haki, you will move to the level of a strong swordsman. Then, naturally, you will have to develop both hakis. With just one, you will never reach the third level of a strong swordsman. And only when you have perfectly mastered the armament and observation hakis, and also hone your sword techniques, only then will you be ready to challenge Dracule Mihawk - the man with the Eyes of the Hawk. If I remember correctly, it is he who currently holds the title of the Strongest Swordsman in the World.