A woman floated gracefully above them. Long silver hair trailed behind her in a loose braid, shimmering like moonlight. A pair of enormous wings extended from her back, beating with slow, majestic strength. A bow rested in her hand, elegant yet deadly.
The attack from earlier was hers.
"Ah! It's her!" Perona gasped.
"You know her?" Zoro asked upon noticing the pinkette's behaviour.
Of course she knew! Or at least, she knew of her.
Unlike Zoro, who truly could not care less about the affairs of the outside world, Perona was an absolute fanatic when it came to global news and recent events. She treated every newspaper delivered by the News Coo as though it were some divine revelation written specifically for her personal enlightenment. Missing even one single issue was a tragedy she refused to allow. So when her eyes locked onto the figure floating toward them, it was absolutely impossible for her not to recognize who that person was.
"Are you serious right now? That's Nalan Yue! One of the Four Generals of Uzu!" she shrieked, eyes bulging in disbelief.
"Uzu?" Zoro echoed, frowning. He did not recognize the person she was talking about, but the word 'Uzu' was vaguely familiar.
He had no time to think about it further.
Another object zipped toward him from an entirely different direction. His instincts kicked in instantly. Zoro raised his sword to intercept the incoming threat, and Perona let out a shrill squeal before diving behind him, treating him like he was her personal human fortress. The object struck the ground with a heavy thud, bouncing slightly before settling into the dirt.
A kunai.
He recognized it immediately. There was only one person he knew who favored those little blades.
A grin stretched across his face, carrying equal parts nostalgia and anticipation. He turned toward the deeper shadows of the forest. "So you still enjoy playing hide and seek, huh, Naru."
A moment later, light footsteps approached from the forest. They were steady and confident, accompanied by a playful, knowing smirk. Naru emerged, casually twirling a kunai between her fingers, treating the deadly weapon like it was nothing more than a toy. Yue stood behind her like a loyal follower.
"You used to be terrible at this game," she teased, her voice warm with familiarity.
If possible, Zoro's grin would grow wider.
"The Uzukage is here!" Perona gasped, trembling with complicated mix of terror and fangirl delight.
The legendary leader of the Uzu Empire. The woman who had dominated newspapers for months after the Summit War, emerging from that chaotic battlefield as the dramatic victor whose name echoed across the world. Yet what truly shocked Perona was not Naru's reputation. It was how casually she spoke to Zoro, as though the two were childhood neighbors running into each other at the market.
"We've known each other since we were kids," Zoro suddenly said, as though he just read read her mind.
Perona could only choke out a wordless sound of disbelief.
"I have not seen you in ages, Zoro. Seems like life has been treating you well." Naru said as she walked closer to the green and pink duo, which oddly reminded her of Sakura and Lee together. She looked at the floating pinkette, and gave her a friendly smile. "Nice to meet you too!"
"Y-Yes! I'm Perona!" the Ghost Princess did not expect to be noticed. If she could, she would have flown over and have a handshakes. But she did not, simply because her current form was just a mirage.
"I've heard of you from my brother." Naru grinned. "That boy definitely has no chance against you."
"I- I was just-" Then Perona remembered that this terrifying woman was also the Straw Hat's older sister, and the muscle fool Zoro was also a Straw Hat.
Naru let out a laugh. "Don't worry about it. I'm glad that boy is having fun meeting wonderful people."
Yeah, she knew Perona was an enemy of the Straw Hats. However, the person in front of her was anything but a malicious pirate.
Not wanting to pressure the girl with her attention, Naru looked at Zoro, "Look at you. Not a pipsqueak anymore!"
"Heh, so you finally decided to visit me, huh? Honestly, I thought you'd forgotten all about me."
"I've been busy," she replied with a smirk.
"With that empire of yours? I heard you're basically an empress now," Zoro said, raising an eyebrow.
Naru laughed at his words. "Ahahahah I don't go around calling myself an empress, but yeah, I am the leader of my own empire, Uzu."
Her vivid blue eyes shimmered with unmistakable pride as she said the name of her empire. After a moment, she gestured toward the silver haired woman beside her. "And this here is Yue, a friend of mine."
Zoro and Yue shared an unreadable silence. Zoro gave her a curt nod. Yue did not return the gesture, but she did not reject it either, holding herself with quiet dignity and observation.
While Zoro and Naru slipped easily into conversation, laughing like two people who had reunited after years apart, Perona stood off to the side, feeling like a ghost that had been forgotten. Her puffed cheeks and narrowed eyes made her look like a sulking child. Was everyone just going to pretend she did not exist?
That thought vanished instantly when she noticed Yue staring directly at her. Or rather, at the adorable ghosts floating around her.
'Uhh... why is she looking at my adorable ghosts like that?'
Naru, catching the look of fascination on Yue's face, chuckled knowingly. Yue always had a strange admiration for anything she found 'adorable', even if they were spooky, floating spirits.
"Perona-san," Naru said with a friendly tone, "Why don't you show Yue around? It seems she is quite taken with your little friends."
Perona blinked several times, still stunned that this legendary figure was actuaklly being kind to an enemy of her dear little brother. But hey, she would not push such luck. Therefore, with a stiff nod and a flustered stammer, she finally managed to respond. "U-Uh... sure, this way... I can, um, show her things..."
With that, the two women walked off together, leaving Zoro and Naru alone in the scarred remains of the training ground. INaru, ever casual, swept her hand in a smooth and elegant motion. A bottle of materialized, causing Zoro's face to lit up immediately, as though someone had flipped a switch inside him.
"I heard from Luffy that you have gotten into drinking," Naru commented with an easy smile, her tone teasing yet familiar.
"Hell yes!" Zoro declared without a shred of restraint. He grabbed the beer, sat down on the ground, and popped the cap off with his thumb, before taking a deep, refreshing swig. "This is the good stuff. The very good stuff."
He leaned back, the corner of his mouth lifting. "Never thought the mysterious sister Luffy kept ranting about was actually you. Honestly, I should have figured it out the moment he said your name was Naru."
"Well, I never told you my full name," she replied with a shrug as she plopped herself next to him. Then she slipped a hand beneath her sleeve and pulled out two additional sake bottles as naturally as if she were reaching into a pocket, despite the fact that her clothes obviously did not contain any pockets. She used a storage seal hidden within her garments, making the bottles appear as if she had plucked them from another dimension.
Zoro blinked slowly. "You are still doing that weird trick, huh?"
She smirked. "Old habits die hard."
"I still don't get how you do it," he said, narrowing his eye at her with mild suspicion. "It feels like sorcery or something."
"Exactly," she said with a wink. "I'm a ninja."
She handed him one of the sake bottles, which he accepted with visible satisfaction. He uncorked it with his teeth and drank straight from the bottle, letting out a pleased hum afterward.
"So," he began, tilting his head toward her, "all those disappearing acts and sudden appearances you used to do… that was all part of your ninja skills?"
"Yes."
"So that is how you could jump from one roof to another roof, leaping between trees without ever falling?"
"Of course."
"I heard ninjas can make clones. Can you?"
"I can."
"What about teleportation?"
"That information is classified," she replied with a playful smile.
"I've seen the kunai. Do you have shuriken too?"
At that, Naru sweatdropped dramatically. The stoic, monotone swordsman she grew up with had suddenly transformed into an inquisitive child trapped inside a well trained warrior's body. The way he fired questions one after another reminded her strongly of Luffy's reaction when he discovered she was a ninja, although Zoro's version was far more reserved. Thankfully, he did not beg her to perform tricks like her rubber brained brother had once done.
Still, rather than answer verbally, she decided to give him something better.
She inhaled lightly, centered herself, and in an instant, ten identical clones materialized around them with a soft shimmer. She did not use a single hand sign. She had mastered the Kage Bunshin so thoroughly that summoning them now was as easy as breathing. The clones formed a neat circle around Zoro, each identical in posture, expression, and presence.
Zoro stared, his mouth slightly open, utterly baffled despite himself.
Before he could even blink, all ten clones vanished in perfect synchronization, their bodies dissolving into rolling clouds of smoke with a soft popping sound. The sight was so quick and clean that even Zoro, with all his sharpened senses, could not track their disappearance.
Then, with an elegant movement, Naru produced a shuriken from her sleeve and flicked it into the air. The small weapon spun gracefully upward before splitting mid flight into a dozen identical blades. Each one sliced through a falling leaf with unerring precision before disappearing among the treetops as though swallowed by the wind.
Zoro sat still for a moment, processing everything, before a grin slowly spread across his face. "Not bad."
Naru chuckled gently, then her gaze drifted down to the trio of swords lying beside him. One blade in particular captured her attention, and her expression softened.
The Wado Ichimonji. The sword of Kuina.
"Never thought I would see that sword in your hands," she said, her voice turning quiet and reflective.
"I didn't either," Zoro responded, picking up the beautifully crafted sword. He ran his calloused fingers along the sheath, his eye distant. A gentle flicker of old memories passed across his face, subtle yet profound.
"You see," he continued, "she and I made a promise. We swore to each other that we would become the greatest swordsmen in the world. And the very next day… she was gone. Fell down the stairs, of all things."
Despite the gravity of his words, his tone remained remarkably composed. More than ten years had passed since Kuina's death. Grief that had once carved open wounds in him had long since been smoothed over by time, battle, and acceptance. He no longer mourned her as a broken child. He honored her as a warrior who carried her dream.
As a boy, her death had crushed him. She had been his rival, the one person who stood equal beside him in strength and ambition. They were children with the same hunger to carve their names onto the world. When she died, it felt as though the path ahead of him had turned into a void. But now, as a man who had survived merciless training, fatal battles, and the harsh reality of the seas, he had long since turned sorrow into resolve.
So speaking of Kuina with Naru felt natural. Naru knew their past. There was no need to hide it.
"We pledged our oath," he said again, his voice steady, "and then suddenly the next day, she was gone."
"So I picked up her sword," he continued. He lifted the Wado Ichimonji toward the sunlight peeking between the broken trees. The blade gleamed brilliantly. "And I decided that I would carry both of our dreams. Both of our ambitions. I swore that I would use this sword to fulfill our promise. I will become the greatest swordsman in the world."
Naru looked at him with an intensity that carried both warmth and challenge. After a moment, she stood slowly, her expression shifting from gentle nostalgia to fierce excitement.
"Words alone cannot show me that," she said, unsheathing a kunai with a smooth motion. She pointed the blade at him with a daring smile. "Show me how far you have come, Zoro."
Zoro's eye glimmered with raw exhilaration.
He rose to his feet and returned her grin, lifting his sword in answer, ready to prove himself.