Rig Maratha

By Mr Khan

Foreword: The name will be familiar to those who read "Numbers Game," and this is indeed a fic that sets up the pre-existing Zoro/Robin relationship that Zoro stumbled into when he slipped into an alternate timeline in that story. This is a story set in that timeline. I recognize that all fan-fiction is an Alternate Universe of a sort, outside of the canon work, though most of my works do try to incorporate as much of canon as possible, this one consciously diverges. I once had a much longer foreword to explain what's going on here, but it's not that far from canon (no Dressrosa, no Punk Hazard, a different island instead). The rest is up to you to figure out. Maybe I'll explain it at the end (evil grin).

Chapter 1: Hunt

Roronoa Zoro's stomach growled, quite audibly. It was the only noise he had made in half a day, ever since he and Nico Robin had begun their trek into the depths of the jungle. He had followed her quietly as afternoon passed. Evening was now drawing on, and Zoro's stomach at last broke the silence which had reigned throughout the day.

This is her fault, he knew. Her and her damn archaeology. If she hadn't been so interested in this stupid brick road, we'd've been on the right side of the line when the island split off. Robin had indeed found an old road made of white bricks, half-covered by mosses and grass. The mundane road had apparently been quite fascinating to the archaeologist, who had left the market district on Rig Maratha's Core behind and wandered off, following the ruined way. Zoro had followed her, feeling it was prudent that none of them wander alone on an island controlled by a subordinate Kaidou, the brutal Yonkou. After that, the island had split apart out of nowhere. The way back rapidly became a stretch of sea too wide and too fierce for Robin to hope to cross, and the newly-created coastline consisted of sharp, sheer cliffs. There was nowhere to go but inward, to try to find out who was on this islet and what they could do to get back to Rig Maratha's Core the others.

"Hungry, Zoro?" Robin asked, turning and speaking to him for the first time since they had resolved to head inland hours ago.

"Yeah," Zoro grunted.

"Me too," Robin said, moving a hand to her stomach absently. Zoro looked at her for a moment. She was wearing a short-sleeved brown leather jacket, zipped open to reveal a fair bit of cleavage, while a long, teal sun-skirt hung below. Zoro was not especially concerned with what she wore, but rather with what she lacked: any sort of purse, satchel, backpack, or travel bag. Zoro himself lacked any sort of accessories that could carry any food. He was wearing a royal blue t-shirt, a gold haramaki, and khaki pants. His pants had a lot of pockets, but he had not packed any food in them.

"So…" Zoro began.

"There's a stream over there," Robin said, pointing off to one side of the ruined brick road that they had been following. "There must be some animals going to drink."

"You want to go hunting?"

"And foraging," Robin said. "But keeping meat in our diet might be a good idea if we're going to be out here for a while. Meat always makes for a better meal."

"You've been spending too much time around Luffy," Zoro groaned.

Robin giggled. "Perhaps. Shall we?"

Zoro nodded assent, and the two of them left the road, plunging into a stand of thick undergrowth until they neared the bank of the stream. The two pirates crouched in the shade provided by a huge fern leaf as they looked out at the stream, where Zoro again took a moment to take a look at his nakama. Her eyes were closed, and sweat slid down her chiseled nose. He had the distinct impression of watching a predator on the prowl.

His good eye then moved back forward, peering through the gaps in the frond to the stream beyond. One animal immediately stood out: a crane which was drinking daintily from the water. A few moments later, Zoro spied the reason that Robin had her eyes closed: several hana-hana hands with eyes poking out of them were visible around the scene, though hard to spot quickly. Zoro was just beginning to think that they wouldn't be able to get much good meat off of a crane when the elegant bird suddenly stood up straight, took wing, and flew off.

Zoro was about to utter a curse before Robin cut him off. "It's coming," she said simply, not opening her eyes.

"Where? What?"

"Up the stream. You have about four seconds."

The swordsman was about to give his companion a snarky reply for ordering him about like that when he saw it: a big, sleek something darting through the water, moving quickly downstream towards the spot where the crane had just been drinking.

"Tch," Zoro growled, annoyed by the woman's abruptness. But even as the growl passed his lips, he was moving, drawing a sword and leaping out from under cover. His jump was low, close to the ground and barely over the surface of the stream, intercepting the swift-swimming shape. Zoro slashed downward, and there was a splash of water and a brief spurt of red. The swordsman landed on the far side of the stream and turned to look. Robin had made a net of Hana Hana hands and secured the thing Zoro had just cut: the head removed from the body revealed it to be something of a cross between a pike and an eel. The shape of the body promised a good dinner.

An hour later, the sun had begun to set and the light in the jungle was growing dim. Zoro sat by a fire, slowly rotating the pike-eel on a spit, roasting it. He heard a rustling in the undergrowth and turned to see Robin returning to their impromptu campsite, just out of eyesight from the stream itself. Her foraging efforts had been successful, as she held a large leaf which cradled a number of red-orange globe-shaped fruits.

"You sure those are okay to eat?" Zoro asked. The fruit looked very unfamiliar.

"I believe so," Robin said. "I did try one, and I have not gotten violently ill yet."

Zoro grimaced, not finding that very reassuring, but he returned to rotating the pike-eel over the fire. He heard the sounds of Hana Hana hands sprouting, and turned to look again: Robin had many hands at work, surrounding some of the fruit and using her fingernails to peel the skin off the fruit. It was a little messy, but she was making good progress. It was a clever solution for the two of them, who had no tools other than Zoro's swords (which, yes, he had grudgingly used to start the fire).

"Here," she said, after she finished peeling one of the fruits. An extra Hana Hana hand passed the fruit over, giving it to Zoro, who ate it in a couple bites.

"Doesn't taste poisonous," he agreed. "Pretty good, actually. What's it called?"

"I don't know," Robin replied. "It's similar to some fruits I've foraged in the past."

"You just seem to know what you're doing," Zoro observed.

"I've had to do this a lot," she replied simply, continuing to peel.

That makes sense, Zoro thought. She had lived alone for a long time, she had to learn to eat for herself.

"Me too," he said eventually, nodding towards the pike-eel. "I'm nowhere near as good as that damn ero-cook, but I did a lot of hunting back when I was wandering the East Blue." Crude as it was, he had managed to gut the pike-eel with his swords and divide it into filets. He gazed at the fish and sniffed tentatively. "Should be done," he said, lifting the spit off the fire.

He set the filets down on a large, flat rock that they had salvaged and washed in the stream as Robin finished peeling the fruit. The two of them were reduced to using short sticks as impromptu chopsticks as their only eating utensils.

They ate in silence, appreciating the bounty of their hunt.