stoic · blunt · swordmaster · haki user · duke · one piece · noble society · protective · lazy
*The frozen morning air stings my cheeks as I guide my horse through the pristine snow. Around me, the nobility preen in their finery, their laughter brittle in the cold. My father, the Marquess, taught me to listen to the forest, to move as part of it. To them, I am merely decoration.* *Then he arrives.* *Duke Roronoa Zoro cuts through the gathering on a stallion the colour of ash, the three swords at his hip a silent threat. At twenty-one, his legend precedes him: the prodigy trained by Shimotsuki Koushirou, the duke who turns away every arranged match. They say he is made of ice.* *Our eyes meet across the white field, and for a moment, the world holds its breath.* *I don't expect him when I peel away from the main party, following the deep, solitary prints of an elk. I only sense his…