Prologue: The Infiltration of the Palace
A/N: This is my first time writing a fanfic so please don't be too harsh on me. I have no experience in writing whatsoever so the story might suck ...But I tried my best :D( Though I do like constructive criticism cus I need all the help I can get)This story is set in ancient Japan where feudal lords still existed. I'm making this up while typing it so I have no idea where it goes, also I completely made up this era so it may not be historically correct. This is not Beted. Sorry. Enjoy ^_^.
Disclamer: I do NOT own One Piece.
Warnings: None (coming up in later chapters there will be more mature bits) Oh wait, there's also very faily attempts to put a bit of humor in so yeah… I will try to improve my humor….Sumimasen *cowers in dark corner*
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A silent figure covered in black stole across the tiled rooftops in the moonlight. Not a soul was in sight except for the occasional drunkard on the streets. As the figure jumped across a particularly high building, the moon reflected his stray pieces of hair that escaped the hood around his pale face that was mostly covered by a scarf, revealing golden silky strands that sparkled in the moonlight. His eyes were the only part of his face that showed and they were shaded in the darkness but even so, one could see the ocean blue glimmer in them. Even with these very limited facial features, anyone can easily say that he was beautiful almost angelic looking. He continued on towards his destination-the largest building within a 10 mile radius. This was a palace secluded from the rest of the citizens' plain-looking houses; it rose above the others and had a majestic look to it. There were humongous walls surrounding the whole palace grounds and was heavily guarded by all sorts of traps and guards. Yes, this was a place that the citizens had learned to never get near; for it was a forbidden place- the feudal lord's palace. This feudal lord was particularly special since he served directly under the emperor and was favored by him. No sane person would EVER want to rob, pillage, or do any sort of bad thing to this feudal lord. But of course, our friendly neighborhood assassin (who is getting closer to the palace by the seconds), is not particularly sane.
When he finally arrived at the palace he silently ran along the palace walls avoiding all the guards until he neared the room he was looking for, the bedroom of the feudal lord. He slowly inched toward the ground so he could go into the room but was surprised when he heard an arrow whistle and hit the wall where his head had been. If it wasn't for his quick reflexes he would have died already. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found that it was just a trap and that it didn't alert the guards.
Huh….seems the trap is broken or something….it should have already alerted the guards…
He passed off this small detail as luck and continued creeping toward the room. Reaching toward the sliding door he slowly inched it open until he managed to make an opening big enough to fit his flexible, lithe body in. He smiled; amused that he had made it in so easily with no troubles at all.
Well…besides the arrow…
He carefully took a quick peek to find that the lord was still sleeping soundly then stole across the room towards the big wooden desk at the end of the room. He searched around the drawers until he found the stamp he was looking for and smirked as he put it in the special compartment on his boots.
That was easy…A little bit TOO easy…
He frowned as his intellect kicked in and he realized that this might be a trap.
I better hurry, just one more visit to the treasury to *ahem* "borrow" all of their gold and money and then I'm off.
Smiling again as he was almost finished with his task he turned around….and bumped into a solid thing.
There wasn't a wall here before….
He looked up, realizing too late that this was no wall, it was a living breathing person, who currently had his obsidian eyes focused on his dark blue ones.
Ohhhhhh…SHIT.
He stared at the eyes of the man who was only mere inches away from his face.
How did I not sense him? God my skills must be growing rusty.
The assassin observed that he was dressed in a simple white shirt with green pants and had three swords strapped to his green belt thingie.
Wait….THREE swords? ,he thought in confusion, why would anyone need three swords?
"Who the hell are you?" The man rudely asked.
"I should be saying that to you!" the assassin loudly whispered.
"Well, I'm not the one looking suspicious as hell." answered the man as he looked the assassin up and down.
The assassin looked at himself and realized that yes, he did look suspicious.
Well, what do you expect me to wear? I'm here to rob a freakin' feudal lord, I'm not here to party!
As the thought crossed his mind he put his concentrated back to his task and tried to think of ways to solve the problem at hand either a) Murder the bastard b) Knock him unconscious or c) Talk him into helping him. Sighing, he realized that the easiest way to get out of this situation was to talk him into becoming his accomplice.
"So….. what are you here for?" He asked the Marimo head, as he had dubbed him for his weird green hair.
"I smelled booze and it led me here." He answered bluntly.
The assassin stared in disbelief at the stupid reason the Marimo head was here.
"You snuck in here for booze?"
"Yeah, not that it's any of your business. Why are YOU here?" He narrowed his eyes as he realized this man dressed in black seemed potentially dangerous.
" I am here to errr….'borrow' some of their money and are you a dumbass? Who sneaks in here for booze?" As he said this he shifted his eyes away from the Marimo head's obsidian ones. he checked the feudal lord from across the room to make sure he was still sleeping.
"You are the real dumbass here Mr. Ninja, I mean, who the hell dresses in black anymore to rob people?" raising one of his eyebrows at the stupid clothes.
The assassin felt his anger rise at being called a dumbass (even though he called the Marimo head one first but never mind that).
"Don't insult me when you don't even know how important my mission is!"
"A mission?"
"Yeah, and if it fails even one hundred of YOUR lives will not be able to compensate for it!"
Realizing too late that he had raised his voice too loud he glanced at the lord in panic and stared in horror as the lord slowly blinked his eyes open. The Marimo head followed his gaze and saw that the lord had sat up now. He blinked blearily around and saw two men in his room. The two men could only look on in horror as the lord opened his mouth to scream.
"Guards! Come here at on-" then promptly fell back asleep, snoring loudly while he was still sitting up.
The two men blinked at each other in surprise and was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he woke up again and proceeded screaming like nothing had happened.
"-ce! There are intruders in my room! I swear I'm getting all you guys fired if-" and was cut off yet again as both the assassin and Marimo head grabbed one of the lord's arms and bolted toward the door to escape. They ran into a group of guards, surprising them. But there looks of surprise quickly turned to looks of horror as they realized just who the two men had in their arms.
"Stop them! They're kidnapping our lord!" commanded one of the guards.
Both men deflected attacks and dealt attacks back, one with his feet and the other with his swords. As they were running across the courtyard, Marimo head laughed out breathlessly.
"This is the most fun I've had in months" he said, grinning.
Irked, the assassin glared at him and screeched "We're getting chased, just accidentally kidnapped a famous feudal lord, AND YOU'RE LAUGHING?"
His tone only caused the Marimo head to laugh even harder but when his laughter caused him to stumble on some rocks he quickly held it in and instead asked the assassin, "This may not be the best of times…." 'Damn right it's not' the assassin muttered in the background. He ignored this and continued speaking "….but what's your name?"
The assassin stared at him in disbelief. "I'm a top-secret assassin and you're asking for my name?"
"Sure, why not?" answered the Marimo head.
Well, I've failed my mission, and we're now accomplices so…what do I have to lose?
He gave a resigned sigh and said "Sanji. You may call me Sanji."
The Marimo-man gave him a smirk and said "That's a stupid name. Mine's Zoro by the way."
Angered that the stupid Marimo he-excuse me, Zoro, had insulted his name (Zoro is a stupider name anyways…). he glared at him.
This only caused Zoro to smirk even more and then a brilliant thought crossed his mind.
"Well, since your hair is green you are now officially Marimo head" amused by how annoyed this made the other he was about to say more when an arrow flew past his head. Rudely reminded that they were being chased he concentrated on getting away and ran faster. Zoro easily kept up with him and together, they ran off into the sunse-….errr…moonlight away from the palace.
"…..hey…." said the feudal lord, slightly upset he had such a minor role. "What the hell, I never got to do anything." The other two men proceeded to knock him unconscious and dragged him away.
TBC
A/N: The prologue sucks, I know. But you guys should try reading the later chapters. I promise it will get better ^_^ cus I'm still trying to get the hang of this :D
