This chapter' is happening during Punk Hazard, near the end.
"Put me down." The wounded marine panted.
"Shut up!" the green haired pirate muttered as he continued carrying the marine over his shoulder.
"You can't order me like that, I'm a Captain." She protested.
"Don't look at it as an order, more like an advice. Wasting breaths on talking is just going to worsen your current state." he replied with a stern look.
She stopped talking and pouted as the pirate carried her on his shoulder.
A few minutes passed, he was still running around when he felt a light tap on his back, "What's wrong?" he asked with a concerned look.
"Go through that door over there." Tashigi said as she pointed towards the door on their left.
Zoro just complied and followed her order. He was running down the hall, as he noticed the rest of the marines and his crew.
"Put me down, it would be shameful if they saw me being carried by a pirate." Tashigi whispered as the strong swordsman ran down the hall.
"No, if you strain your body anymore by running you'll get even worse." Zoro said before adding "I can't let that happen, not to you."
Tashigi shocked looked at the swordsman who carried her with a determined look. "Why do you care?" she questioned the 'Pirate Hunter'.
"Because..." He just replied with an incomplete sentence, not bothering to finish it as he continued running.
"Because? What? You think I need your help because I'm a woman?" She asked angrily, hoping to get a reaction out of him and she succeeded.
"No, because you consider me to be your rival, you deserve at least one more chance to take me down in fair combat, I'll be waiting for you after I beat Mihawk." He finished with a smirk, much to the brunette marine's annoyance.
"You're an honorable swordsman, but you're too arrogant. You really think you stand a chance about Mihawk?" She replied angrily with her goal on taunting him.
"I can't win as I am right now, but in the two years I spent training under him, I at least know how much stronger I have to get." Zoro replied to the marine.
"Why would a shichibukai risk getting involved with the notorious first mate of the Straw Hat pirates? Just you sharing this with me is enough for his title to be revoked." Tashigi said.
They were close to their comrades when he replied to her threat with a smirk, "I guess he already accepted the fact that I will eventually become the best swordsman in the world, I told you that to inspire you to become stronger and aim to win the title before me. I guess you marines are too scared of normal competitions so you'd rather use cheap tricks like that."
Tashigi just pouted at the green haired pirate and allowed him to carry her as she realized that her weak body couldn't support her in this state.
"Captain-chaaan, did the mean pirate do something to you? Are you hurt?" The men yelled in the direction of the pair.
"No, he..." Tahsigi began as she gulped in embarrassment before continuing, "...He saved me, as much as I hate to admit it."
Zoro grinned at the words that exited Tashigi's mouth, luckily the rest of the people didn't notice the happiness in his eyes.
"Oi, marimo stop carrying Tashigi-chan, such an honor should be mine." Sanji screamed at his crew mate.
"I don't have time for games, shut up." Zoro replied with a stern look as he joined the marines and the rest of his crew in their running marathon.
Sanji dropped his fighting stance as he realized the seriousness in Zoro's voice. "Come on guys, we're close to the exit." He yelled before glancing at the green haired swordsman, "I guess you do like women after all." Sanji teasingly added.
"It's just a swordsman's hono-" before Zoro could finish he was interrupted by Sanji, "Yea, keeping telling yourself that, I saw that stupid grin of yours when Tashigi-chan said that you saved her."
Tashigi listened to the exchange of the two pirates and couldn't help but smile at the flustered swordsman, to think that someone as strong and scary as him could be teased by someone of lower rank than him, in. any other pirate crew the cook would've been executed for such comments. "They really are a one-of-a-kind crew" she thought to herself.
One of the marines sadly ended her happy thoughts, "Captain-chan, did you hear that? Even the scary Pirate Hunter likes you." The realization dawned over her, was that really the reason why he saved her, to think that her rival liked her.
It sounded truly mind blowing, the notorious pirate being attracted to a marine captain. As romantic as that sounded she had to ignore her feelings for all this time, so he has to do that as well. She can't just drop everything for him.
"So, what do you think Captain-chan? You've been awfully quiet." Another marine asked the Captain who was lost in her own thoughts.
Zoro quickly pulled her off his shoulder and placed her in a bridal carrying position. "You guys shouldn't relax before we're out of this damned poison infested fortress." He yelled at the men behind him, averting their attention from the quiet Tashigi.
"Thanks" she whispered as she pushed her face into his chest hiding her blush. "No worries." He replied with a grin.
Finally everyone was at the shore and the party started, marines and pirates together, everyone seemed to be having fun except a certain pair of people. Tashigi looked at the swordsman who was sitting alone on one of the crates, distanced from the party.
Zoro drank his sake, not minding the party and glancing over to the swordswoman every once in a while, as if checking on her.
"Where did she go?" He whispered into the mug, noticing that the marine Captain wasn't where his glance landed.
"Right here." She whispered from behind him making his blood freeze at the thought that he was caught. Zoro cursed at himself for whispering those stupid thoughts of his.
"W-would you..." He tried to say something but his nervousness just got the better of him as he stuttered.
"Would I what?" Tashigi asked as she walked closer to the swordsman and sat down on the crate on his left. "You're an idiot." She added with a pout.
"I know." Zoro replied with a sad expression on his usually unemotional face. "It's all that stupid cook's fault, he should've kept his mouth shut." He finished.
"Well, at least now I know that the demon swordsman is in fact a normal human capable of emotions." She said with a smile before taking a sip from the bottle that was laying on the snowy ground beneath her feet.
"Demon? Did Kaku leave such a nice report?" Zoro finished with a grin as he took another sip from his almost empty bottle of sake.
"Kaku?" Tashigi asked the swordsman.
"Cipher Pol 9's second strongest fighter? Don't you know? Or did the rest of the marines get brainwashed into thinking that we could destroy Eneis Lobby alone?" Zoro asked the now confused captain.
"CP9? I thought that was a myth, and what do you mean brainwashed, explain yourself." She asked with a now slightly scary look.
"Well, the reason we attacked Eneis Lobby was to save Robin from being sent to Impel Down, and CP9 was there so we fought them, their retarded leader Sparam or something like that called the buster call for Eneis Lobby by mistake." Zoro finished.
Tashigi now looked at him with an even more confused look, "I heard rumors that such an organization exists but I never thought it was true, I heard some quite horrid stories about them, they supposedly were the Governments assassins. And what's this buster call you're talking about?" she finished, her mind brimming with curiosity.
"Well, it's like an order of total destruction, from what I figured only Admirals have access to that command and that frost guy gave the permission to the Sparam guy. Basically when they order the buster call, the marine battleships arrive and delete the island out of existence, it happened with Robin's home because they figured out how to read Poneglyphs." Zoro said with a frown on his face.
"That's... I never knew that." Tashigi said in shock.
"Yea, I supposed such things are only known by high ranking marines, ask you boss, maybe he knows more." Zoro finished with disgust in his eyes as he remembered their battle in Eneis Lobby.
"I'm sorry." Tashigi whispered in an effort to somehow comfort the swordsman, "I thought that you did it for fame or something, to think that you guys risked everything for your friend." She finished with a frown.
Few minutes passed in silence when Zoro asked, "So why the nickname demon? If Kaku wasn't the one who told you about my form?" Tashigi just looked at him confused.
"Form? We call you that because of your terrifying aura, what form are you talking about?" Tashigi asked the swordsman. Zoro smiled and answered, "Well, if you're scared of me as I am now, I can already see you unconcious after seeing Asura."
"Asura?" Tashigi asked the green haired pirate "You don't mean, that Asura? The 3 faced demon?" She smiled at him as if he was joking.
"You really don't believe me? Oh well, I guess I wouldn't believe someone else if they said something like that. you want proof?" Zoro teasingly said before putting his hand on a sword.
"Well, I'd like to see it in a battle but sadly I can't fight with this shoulder" Tashigi said with a sad face before looking over to her shoulder.
"Well if I show it here, I'll discourage your crew of pursuing the Straw Hats, and our captain likes you guys. So let's go out of heir sight." Zoro finished as he stood up and offered a hand to the wounded marine.
She agreed with him with a nod and accepted his hand which helped her get up. They walked in the direction from where they came.
They finally came to a fairly empty field where no one else was. Zoro pulled out his three swords, taking a battle stance. "Just remain calm when you see it, I don't want you to be scared." He added with a genuine smile.
Tashigi just nodded in reply with a worried look "I regret it already, he seems serious." She thinks to herself before breathing out and preparing herself.
Suddenly she feels a tremble from the earth as some kind of purple aura starts forming around Zoro, his body now with six arms and three faces, "Ky-Kyutoryu..." a trembling voice escapes her mouth as she falls down on her bottom after seeing the purple aura form around the swordsman.
"He was serious, Asura is real." She whispers to herself while crawling backwards in terror of the sight before her. Zoro noticing her reaction stops his power, making the purple aura retreat to the ground.
"Sorry." He whispers as he approaches the terrified woman on the ground. Her eyes finally fixed back onto the green haired swordsman. "I guess you weren't ready to see it?" Zoro finished with a worried look.
"No need to apologize, it doesn't even matter, you can have all the demons you want, I'll still beat you one day" Tashigi answered before standing up, now finally back to her senses after seeing the demon.
"Good luck" Zoro replied before walking away with a smirk and his swords in his hands.
"I hope to see you soon." Zoro added before escaping her sight.
