Er, well, I decided to drop my other story for the time being, and, because I haven't updated in a while, put this one-shot of Robin and Zoro up. I hope you'll forgive me, but I might finish it someday, :D. I started 2 new stories (aside from this one) and have about 2 chapters for each, but I want to write more as insurance.

Now, I tried a semi-different style for this story, and I totally winked the whole thing. I got the idea after reading a post in a certain OP forum and my hands just went crazy on the keyboard, I guess, haha. Barely took any time, compared to my other stories, and I know that it's probably not that good, oops =X. Please help me and point out any grammar and spelling mistakes you may see (I KNOW I CAN'T USE COMMAS CORRECTLY, lol, I like to over use them)

Without further ado, I present to you my story immediately following Thriller Bark: Your History.

"What's wrong?" Zoro asked bluntly in a threatening tone that most people would misunderstand as, rather than trying to help, something else. Most, but not all. Robin knew that he didn't have such intentions at all.

"What do you mean, Kenshi-san?" she asked.

She lifted her sunglasses as Zoro walked in front of the tanning chair, his shadow looming over her. She dropped her book onto her lap and looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Drop the act, Robin. You might be able to fool those idiots, but a swordsman is always aware of his surroundings, and that includes his nakama," he said and pointed his thumb to the direction of the idiot captain who was seemingly playing tag with the rest of the crew in circles around the large mast pole.

Robin the swordsman's thumb and caught Brook doing a graceful face-plant into the grass of the Thousand Sunny with Luffy tripping right over him, as result, a domino effect. Within seconds, all the members, aside from Zoro and Robin, were on the floor around the mast shooting curses at each other. She chuckled slightly at the boys' wild antics and then Zoro, who took her first laugh in a different way than intended, his face turning bright red. "What's so funny, woman?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Kenshi-san," she smiled.

"Oi, don't try to change the topic," Zoro said, and then, realizing that he was actually the one that did, flinched very uncharacteristically, his face turning full red this time. He coughed to regain his composure only to begin choking again. A laugh escaped the archeologist's lips.

"Perhaps it might be one of the events that occurred at the previous island," she said.

"Thriller Bark, huh?" Zoro muttered, running a hand through his short hair that was moist from perspiration from his morning work-outs. Nothing too drastic had happened in particular there, but he'd been separated from the crew within minutes of stepping into Hogback's castle, so he wouldn't have known everything that happened to her. "Oh to hell with it. Just spit it out, woman, what was bothering you there?"

"You were, Kenshi-san."

"Ha?"

"With what you did."

"I didn't do any--" Zoro's speech was cut off sharply as he suddenly realized what she meant.

"Precisely, Kenshi-san."

His eyes widened and he looked over his shoulders on both sides before pushing the woman inside the kitchen and shutting the door behind them.

"You know?" he demanded and slammed his fist down on the table.

"I do, however, I won't tell anyone. For a price, that is, of course" she rested her chin on the palm of her hand and smiled innocently. "Maybe I have caught some of navigator-san's personality after all."

He twitched the mention of the woman, and an image of her holding up a piece of paper with his debt on it flashed through his mind, "I... don't have any money."

"I have caught some of her personality, but not all. Money does not interest me here at sea. I wish to know history."

"History? Er, 20 – no, 30 – no... Mah, Roger was made king of pirate some years ago." Zoro muttered. His sentence sounded more like a question than a statement.

Robin smiled in amusement. "No, Kenshi-san, I already know that. I wish to know your history."

"My history?"

"Yes, tell me about your dream and that one katana that you hold so dearly to yourself."

"It's not a dream. I'm going to become the strongest swordsman in the world," he said simply, and then, when he saw her looking at him expectantly, he added, "Long ago – about 8 years ago when I was – ... a kid, I met a girl at a dojo that I was trying to strip from its sign. I dueled her for it, and lost at her hands. I vowed to become a student there from then on. Then, whenever we dueled during those 3 years, she'd always beat me no matter how hard I trained. On our 2001th duel, we used real swords, and she beat me again. She told me how lucky I was to be a boy and that she couldn't be the best only because she wasn't one. I yelled at her, and then we promised each other that one of us would eventually become the best swordsman in the world. The next morning, she passed away in an accident, but I guess the promise lived on."

"And your sword?"

"This was her sword," Zoro said and released an inch of blade from Wadou Ichimonji. "Her father passed it on to me after she died."

"It's beautiful."

"Yeah."

There was an uncomfortable silence for Zoro as Robin took in his awkwardly placed words that shaped his history.

"Are you happy now? You won't tell any--" Zoro's sentence was cut off short quite oddly by Robin – especially for her.

"Did you have feelings for her?"

"Kuina? No," Zoro stated firmly, and then hesitated before adding, "Love dulls the blade."

Robin parted her mouth slightly and then closed it again. She set the cup of, now cold, coffee down onto the table.

"I see. That's a shame..." she whispered. She stood up and walked by him silently, hiding something dark that glistered in her eyes. She reached for the door knob.

"Robin!" Zoro called out after her, faster than intended. "If it dulls... I'll just sharpen it again."

Robin's hands slid down the curve of the doorknob and fell to her side.

"Thank you... Zoro."

Uh, so... ta-da? Ha ha, I'm not satisfied with this piece, but I felt that I wanted to try my hand at it anyway, so yeah, this is how it turned out. I was going to add a bit more toward the end, but I didn't want it to end up like all of the other ZoRo one-shots, so I stopped myself before it got TOO out of OOC for both of them, though I felt that it had a lot anyway. I'd appreciate any help that you could give me, along with your personal thoughts, haha. I only wish to hear your VERY HONEST opinion, though, nothing of the sort that you only say to make me feel better, he he. XD Thank you very much for reading.