Kuma didn't leave anything tact in thriller bark..everything was horridly destroyed. The straw hat pirates were all down , hurt and losing consciousness .Kuma approached luffy and grabbed his shirt to pull him up.

"SHISH SON SON"

Breathing heavily, zoro pushed his limits for this attack. Opening his eyes wide , he notices that kuma is a cyborg .

"What the Hell are you?"

"Just like it is I am a cyborg .. created by the world`s most famous scientist …"

"I see,… all of this including your devil fruit powers" zoro says as he breaths heavily.

"you have to take one head … then you might as well take mine….It might not be worth that much now…. But it`ll be the head of the world's greatest swordsman…It should be more than enough"

"you plan on taking your Captain's place"

"It is the only way I see to save the crew….my ambition shouldn't be worthy if I don't protect my captains ambition"

He breathes heavily and glares.

"Luffy`s going to be the Pirate King!"

(Meanwhile)

She hears his voice and it wakes her up…. She stirs slowly and grits her teeth out of the pain..

Is her stomach okay ?.. her arms were around it the whole time..it should be safe. her legs aren't helping her to stand up.. a heavy rock must have hit them hard. She can see the bruises and blood covering her whole body , but she tries to sit up.

"z…zoro…" she whispers.

And she hears him saying :

"you have to take one head … then you might as well take mine….It might not be worth that much now…. But it`ll be the head of the world's greatest swordsman…It should be more than enough"

"you plan on taking your Captain's place"

"It is the only way I see to save the crew….my ambition shouldn't be worthy if I don't protect my captains ambition"

He breathes heavily and glares.

"Luffy`s going to be the Pirate King!"

"N…No" her eyes tear up as she clutches her stomach and tries to sit up.

She hears him talking with kuma after seeing him hit sanji away to save them all:

"Roronoa Zoro,…It will be me who will put his pride at stake if I touch one of the crew members…. But if you want to take your captains place you might as well see hell…. You will take in all the damage that he experienced during his fight with odz and moria…".

He puts his hand in the red , big ball and gets a small ball out of it.

"you might as well try some" kuma says and throws the ball into zoro`s chest.

Winry`s eyes could not take it anymore!...he was screaming out of excruciating pain. He falls on the floor as he vigorously shakes and breathes. It is obvious that his body and bones are not listening to him anymore … he is broken and no one can bear the pain he goes through …

She wants to shout, but her voice isn't helping her…. All she could do is whisper as she groans from pain and cries silently.

Zoro clutches his hand and musters the strength to speak..

"L..Let me change the Place"

No .. she wouldn't let him… she moves her arm away from her stomach and grabs debris … she throws them weakly on kuma … though she knows they wouldn't do anything. She could at least draws his attention away from zoro.

Zoro`s eyes widen as he weakly stands up , breathing heavily he calls her name.

Kuma looks at her nonchalantly.

" Rockubell winry … or should I say Roronoa…. Running away from the place where you richly live with a couple of law-breakers has gotten you this far…"

Kuma walks to her as he speaks…

Zoro`s eyes widen as he musters his power to run to her …

"Your ability is very useful ... it could have been useful to the government itself… if only you had stayed in you place …."

Zoro reaches her before kuma does and stands in front of her.

Breathing so heavily , his knees lets him down as his whole body shakes from the ball he got earlier.

"Don't touch her" he glares furiously.

Kuama silently stares and after seconds reply's..

"I will keep my word , roronoa ….. I`ll be waiting behind the castle"

He moves away as his loud footsteps shake the ground and produce a loud voice.

Zoro turns to winry and gently puts his arms around her waist to lift her up.

She lifts her arm and grabs his arm. She cries as she feels his whole body shake. He is tormenting her.

"w…winry…stay with me…. Stay awake … are you okay?"

How can he ask her that!... when the explosion started , he did her best to run and protect her with his body. If it weren't for him , her body would have been crushed into bits.

"Don't …." She whispers as tears furiously fall from her eyes.

He knew what she means. She heard and saw everything. Zoro sighed and closed his eyes for a minute.

He leaned her back on a rock.

Winry looks at him desperately as she cries.

"zoro…. Please don't do this to me… your killing me"

"shhhh" he gently puts his forehead on hers.

His heavy breathing and her non-stop crying was the only thing they both heard. They both felt as if the world is involving them only.

Both closing their eyes and their foreheads on each other has made winry fear losing him and letting him go.

Zoro`s breathing stops and he opens his eyes to look at her.

She can see all the black lines drawn on his eyes from all of the pain.

She puts her hand on his cheek gently and starts to cry more. Zoro smiles shakily and moves his forehead away. He puts his hand on her cheek and caresses it gently with his thumb. she can still feel him shaking.

"I…I have to…" he whispers

"N…No.. zoro please" she gasps while crying.

"I want to protect you.. our baby and the crew.. our situation has never been worse than this… the whole crew is in danger….I have to winry".

He moves to caress her hair next to her ear, but she grabs his hand and shakily puts it on her stomach.

She looks down at her stomach and cries as she feels zoro`s hand on it.

She smiles as she cries and says "o..our baby needs a father—"

"And I`ll be the best one, I promise you that-!" he cuts her.

He kisses her forehead gently and they both lock their eyes together as he touches her lips with his thumb.

"I need you to trust me…" he whispers.

"I always do" she whispers back.

What a situation they are in…. tattered clothes, injuries and both bodies shaking.

Zoro leans slowly and locks his lips to hers. Such a sweet, gentle and painful kiss they are sharing. Their kiss lasted for a minute but they both felt it lasted for eternity.

They break their kiss and he pulls her in to a warm hug. winry raises both arms and hugs him back. She smells his metal like smell, mixed with blood and sweat and she clutches white tattered shirt at his back with her fingers.

Zoro could hear her muttering through his shirt .

"I love you so much"

He smiles and answers back

"and I`d die for you"

He breaks the hug and looks at her for the last time.

"I`m sorry" he whispers.

It was no time after he apologized , winry felt like she is losing consciousness again.

He had to put her to sleep…he knows how will it kill her to hear his screams. His pride won't even allow it…he wont make her hear him scream this way again.

(Behind castle)

Zoro breathes heavily as he stands next to the big red ball …. He then musters determination and puts his arms in.

To Be Continued…