PRESENT, SIXIS ISLAND

Roronoa Zoro kneels in the middle of a circle of candles, their soft glow casting shadows on his face. Bando Akiko stands in the forest off to the side; she knows that her friend needs some space to pay his respects. Well, as much space as he could with the man following them.

"You can come out," Zoro states, opening his eyes as he senses the man has caught up to them.

"People often visit shrines to light candles for those they've lost." a figure emerges from the trees opposite Akiko, "Who are yours for?"

Akiko steps into the light to show her presence to the red-haired individual. Still, she stays far away, knowing that Zoro can handle whatever is about to happen.

"This one is for someone I knew a long time ago."

"And the other?" the stranger questions, causing the swordsman to raise his head.

"You've been following us for three days," Zoro rises from the ground and faces away with his hands resting casually on the hilt of his sword, "What do you want?"

"You may call me Mr. 7. I represent an organization known as Baroque Works," the man holds up a black card of a jolly roger with angel wings and swords, "We are interested in your unique set of skills, pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro. The Shadow as well."

The hunter turns around at the sound of the titles, "What are you? Some band of assassins?"

Akiko takes one step further into the clearing, ensuring her hood stays securely on her head and covering her face.

"We are much, much more. You should know it's a high honor to be asked to join our ranks," the man with the red mohawk explains.

The statement causes the girl to roll her eyes slightly as Zoro seems unphased, "We kind of got our own thing going on."

He turns his back towards Mr. 7, frustrating him, "Membership would make you even more invincible, more feared."

"Does it come with a free face tattoo? My favorite is number one," he responds, raising his middle finger toward the recruiter, causing Akiko to let out a snicker. Zoro's lips raise slightly at the reaction from the girl in front of him before kneeling before the candles.

"To turn down Baroque Works is to forfeit your life."

"If they were that serious, they should've sent someone better than Number 7," Zoro responds, causing the man behind him to pull out two swords, the sound of the metal scraping echoing through the forest. Akiko shows no reaction besides slightly resting her fingers on the small knife hidden in her waistband.

The man advances on the kneeling figure before him. Zoro swiftly unsheathes one of his swords to block the incoming swings of the blades. The force causes the recruiter to back off slowly, and the hunter sheathes his sword, standing up and facing his attacker. The latter grunts in frustration and begins to slash at the younger man. Zoro easily glides between the blades and dodges the attacks, making a fool of the man before him. Akiko shakes her head at the boy's actions and takes her hand away from her blade before resting her back on a tree behind her.

After dancing around his assailant, Zoro takes out his two swords and begins his attacks on Mr. 7, causing him to retreat from the advances. A swipe from Zoro's sword causes the candles around him to blow out before he continues to block the assaults effortlessly. Mr. 7 foolishly raises his weapons above his head to strike, allowing the swordsman to slice his body in half.

"You play too much with your food, Zoro," Akiko states, pushing off the tree she was leaning against, "The bounty doesn't go higher the longer you fight them."

He looks to the girl with a toothy smirk, "But it's more fun this way."

She rolls her eyes and takes out a burlap sack out of her satchel, "It's not more fun when it gets you killed or I have to save your ass."

Zoro's eyes narrowed, snatching the sack out of her outreached hand. "I had all of those situations handled. If anything, I save your ass more. "

Akiko shakes her head slightly and puts the two parts of the body into the bag opened by Zoro, "Mr. 7 is worth three million berry, should be able to hold us off for a while."

The swordsman ties up the bag, leaving the red mohawk sticking out of the top, "First, we have to collect the bounty. Let's find a way to Shells Town."

SHELLS TOWN, 153RD MARINE BRANCH

Inside a bar in Shells Town, Monkey D. Luffy, and Koby sit at a table scheming of ways to get into the marine base.

"I can't get inside the base through the gate... but maybe.. maybe, what if I get inside flying?"

A tangerine-haired girl sits in a corner, leg propped up and a drink in her hand as she observes the bar patrons.

Akiko and Zoro open the building doors and enter the bar, the latter dragging the bag holding Mr. 7 behind him. Zoro drops the bag onto a barstool to his left while Akiko leans against the bar, always trying to face the door.

"A bottle for me and one for my friend on the left. He's had a rough day," he states, gesturing towards the body. The bartender complies and puts two bottles of beer in front of him. She then glances towards his alive companion, who shakes her head, signaling she isn't going to have a drink.

The raven-haired girl's black eyes bounce across the room, surveying for potential threats. They land on a small child hiding behind the corner of the bar, staring at the older girl with a smile on her face. At the eye contact, the little girl giggles and runs to the back of the bar, causing Akiko to smile lightly at the reaction before continuing her survey of the bar. A shoulder nudges hers.

"Relax, Ki, none of the marines will recognize you. And if they do, we can handle them," Zoro's deep voice interrupts her examination of the room. He takes a drink out of the second bottle given to him.

Before Akiko can respond, the little girl returns with two rice balls covered in brown material lying on a white plate. She curiously peers down at the smiling girl as Zoro says, "What's this?"

"Rice balls. For you guys," she gushes, offering the plate to the duo.

The corner of Akiko's mouth turns up at the gesture, "You made them yourself?"

The little girl hums in agreement.

"What's the brown stuff?"

"Chocolate. Makes everything taste better," she responds before she turns around at the sound of her sister calling her name.

A marine with long blonde hair bumps into the child, clattering the dish onto the ground. The little girl gasps in surprise and steps away fearfully as Akiko's expression drops.

"You stupid, stupid girl," the marine states, using his foot to smear her creation into the ground, "Why don't you watch where you're going?"

"Rika, apologize to our guest," her sister demands.

The little girl looks up to the blond, tears brimming her eyes, "I'm... I'm so sorry."

The man begins to mock her, " 'I'm so sorry.' Next time, I won't be so nice."

Akiko and Zoro share a look, speaking up, "You dropped my food."

Zoro leans down to the food on the ground and picks up the smeared rice ball. He eats it and tells the girl, "Delicious."

Akiko watches her companion, standing behind the little girl protectively as she smiles at the pirate hunter's response. He picks up the other rice ball, sets it on the white plate, and places it before the rude individual, saying, "Now you eat one."

"And apologize to the girl," Akiko adds, glaring at the man who starts to laugh hysterically while taking a step toward Zoro.

"Do you know who I am?" the blond questions, turning to glare at the raven-haired girl.

Zoro looks him up and down, "A shithead Marine with a bad haircut."

The shithead Marine with a bad haircut grunts, unsheathing his sword and aiming it at the green-haired boy. Akiko pushes Rika away from the obvious fight to happen before stepping close to Zoro, her arm grazing his back.

"I wouldn't do that," Zoro states, not even looking up from the bottle that he returned to.

"Oh, come on, tough guy. Three swords? I only need one. And I can take you both," the marine taunts with a laugh.

"Okay, but it's going to hurt."

The blond swings his sword at Zoro's back, only to be blocked by the pirate hunter's sword hilt. Two maneuvers later, he has the marine crawling on the floor away without even unsheathing his sword. The surrounding marines advance, causing Akiko to sigh as she joins the fight, striking down the bar patrons.

A man approaches from the left of her, fist raised for a bunch. She leans back, dodging the punch and slips behind the man before kicking him square in the back. The kick sends her first victim sprawling to the floor as another approaches behind her. Akiko spins around, catching the fist flying towards her and using the momentum of the punch to flip the man onto his back.

The two fighters jump onto a table, standing back to back before facing the rest of the attackers. Akiko uses the sole of her boot to knock a marine's sword back into his face, causing him to fall to the ground. Two others follow as she flips over a brunet, using his shoulders as a platform and bringing the heel of her boot down onto an approaching attacker.

From a corner of the bar, Monkey D. Luffy watches the fight, an impressed smile on his face. Koby peeks out from under the table he was hiding under to see the end of the fight (if you can even call it a fight, I would call it a beatdown) to see Zoro flip a marine over his shoulder and into the bar.

"Good fighters," Luffy states, his eyes following the duo approach the blond who started the altercation.

Akiko flips her ponytail of tightly coiled hair over her shoulder, observing Zoro whispering into the blond's ear, "You shouldn't draw your blade unless you're prepared to use it."

"Don't kill me, please. My father will give you anything you want."

"Who's your father?"

"Captain Morgan," he shares, "He's captain of this marine base."

"Then he owes me money."

Zoro stands before the marine captain, Akiko closely on his right, with the spoiled brat on the other side. Usually, the girl doesn't accompany Zoro to collect the bounties. She prefers to stay anonymous. The world is much more intimidated, not knowing that The Shadow is a 19-year-old girl that barely reaches 5'2". But, the raven-haired girl did not have a good feeling about the encounter with the supposed "Axe-Hand" Morgan.

"I understand you two sent six of my Marines to the infirmary. Without drawing a blade, I might add," Morgan states, sharpening the axe on his hand, "Impressive."

"We didn't want to make a mess," Zoro states, raising his chin slightly and ensuring that Akiko was standing close by.

"Roronoa Zoro. The Demon. And that must mean that that pretty little thing there is somehow The Shadow," he chuckles, gesturing towards the small girl, causing Zoro to shift towards her slightly out of instinct, "Most feared pirate hunter in the East Blue. And the most notorious spy, whose identity I get to see. Hm. I'd say you live up to your reputation."

"If it's all the same, we'll just take our money and go," Zoro says, his face straight but beginning to understand why Akiko had a funny feeling about the encounter.

"You'll collect your bounty, but the penalty for assaulting a Marine is seven days strung up in the yard," Morgan states, walking towards them, "No food or water."

"You can try to arrest me, but your brat'll be the first one I kill," he retorts.

"Hey! He can't speak to me that way!" Helmeppo exclaims to his father, who only smacks his son in the face, sprawling him onto the ground. Akiko's eyes follow the body before returning to the captain before her.

"I like you. Oh, we should be working for the same team," Morgan suggests, beginning to walk around Zoro, approaching the girl, "And the information you could get... would be so valuable. You two would make a hell of Marines."

The blond slaps a hand on Akiko's shoulder, who slightly tenses at the response, but her face stays stoic, staring straight ahead.

"We kind of got our own thing going on," Zoro states, taking the man's attention away from the girl, "Doesn't leave much time for playing dress-up."

"It's a shame to lose a duo of such talents since neither of you will be able to collect a bounty at any Marine base once I get the word out. And the identity of The Shadow," Morgan threatens, tearing down Akiko's hood to get a better look at her face. Zoro's hand clutches the hilt of his sword tightly, the rest of his body remaining calm, "So what's it going to be? A new career? Or the yard?"

"Seven days? We could catch up on our sleep."

SARA SPEAKS⋆ ★⋆ ★⋆ ★⋆ ★

Okay, I hope you guys enjoyed this one. I'm trying to play with my writing style, but at the end of the day, I don't think I can ever change it. I'm trying to be more descriptive, but the best I can describe my writing style is Rick Riordan lmfaoooo. He really influenced me growing up. Anywhooooo.... please let me know your thoughts. I know there wasn't a lot in this chapter, but just remember that Akiko is a very closed-off person. You will all just have to wait and see my plans for her.

Much love <3