Disclaimer: One Piece and all its characters are owned by Eiichirō Oda
Chapter 1
Night had fallen. Not a sound could be heard but the whistling wind. The streets appeared to be silver under the full moon. It would have been a beautiful scene, had it not been for the shadows that hid behind houses and the trees, slowly stretching out their claws to scratch the white glow of the moonlight. The town seemed deserted, abandoned, almost haunted, but a young man walked the streets as if he were walking in broad daylight. His pitch black hair reflected the silver light that the moon showered upon him. He moved in silence, with a graceful pace that rivaled that of a cat. He was not scared of the night; rather, he was enamored by it. It reminded him of her; "the moon that illuminated his nights". The silly thought brought a smile to his lips; a smile tinted with longing and nostalgia. His silver eyes a reflection of his solitude…God he missed her…
A light, cracking sound broke the silence that flooded the streets; someone had stepped on the dry leaves that filled the town in autumn. His eyes flickered to his side. Whoever they were – he was sure it was a good twenty people at least – they had been following him for a couple days now. He had ignored them, hoping that in time they would show themselves or just go away…but that was not the case.
Another cracking sound. He was starting to get annoyed. With a sigh, he stopped walking and waited. Still, no one came out.
"It is quite impolite to stalk someone in the middle of the night, gentlemen…mind coming out so that I can see your faces?" he asked aloud with cold mockery.
Some surprised gasps and curses could be heard behind the shadows of the dark alleys surrounding him. "Rookies huh?" he thought, smirking in amusement. The stalkers finally came out of the dark and surrounded him…there was about twenty of them. He heard a tile break in pieces as it hit the pavement and glanced to the roofs of the houses. "Make that thirty then".
He sighed. He didn't think of himself to be amazingly strong – violence was not his thing – but still, they were underestimating him a bit.
"So you noticed us, Kaze no Kei" a rather big man questioned, voice full of fake mockery. The guy was scared shitless, and he could tell. He smirked. These guys are just too much fun.
"Why of course" he said with a happy voice "I noticed you about three days ago, when you started following me from the dock".
The big guy paled, but made sure to mutter a curse under his breath, to appear tough…funny guy. The street was filled with the gasps and amazed mutters of the rest of the stalkers. If they were impressed by just that… "They really are rookies…" he sighed. Not that he was complaining really. These guys would be really easy to get rid of…but it would be no fun at all…and that was somewhat a matter of disappointment to him. "And here I was expecting to enjoy this a little…"
"Well then…I'm in a bit of a hurry so I'm afraid I can't stay here to chat with you, ladies" he said with a sly smirk that widened as soon as he heard the enraged response of his stalkers "it was nice meeting you"
And with that said he turned his back on them and kept on walking completely nonchalant, waiting to see if his words had finally sunk into those apparently brainless idiots.
"You BASTARD!!"
Finally. There it was. The response he'd been waiting to hear. With a satisfied smirk on his face, he stopped on his tracks, his back still to his enemies.
"Don't you dare underestimate us!"Yelled a young man, his sword already drawn towards the mysterious figure. Said figure suddenly disappeared on thin air, leaving a completely astounded lad gawking stupidly at the spot that his sword had just sliced through…air? There was nobody there.
"You know…I'm probably not one to talk..." the man gasped, a shudder travelling up his spine as her heard the voice of the infamous Lord of the Wind mere inches away from his ear "but you should never give your back to the enemy".
The poor guy didn't even have time to turn around; a gust of wind suddenly came from nowhere and sliced his chest open like an extremely sharp katana would. With fear now staining all his view, he turned around to look at his attacker, blood streaming out of his mouth as he saw the man standing behind him. He had no weapon…he was just looking at him with a strangely mischievous look on his face. Finally, his legs gave in to the pain and he started falling forward.
"Wh-what are you?" the lad muttered through bloodstained lips before collapsing on the ground with a thud, a puddle of blood already forming around him.
The enigmatic man looked at him with a strange look on his face. His eyes almost sad. A small smile plastered on his face.
"You didn't think the name was just for show, did you?"he muttered bitterly, almost to himself, for the man was already unconscious.
The silver-eyed man then turned to the rest of his enemies, who seemed to have lost all courage left in them. He sighed. Seriously, did they really expect that he'd give in to their demands that easily, if at all? The poor bastards probably didn't even know what they'd gotten themselves into. It was so pathetic he almost pitied them.
Almost.
"Well, let's get this over with, shall we?"
A blast of wind came again out of nowhere and the street was suddenly covered in blood and shrieks of pain and fear. The mysterious man being the only one left standing now, hands in his pockets. He hadn't moved a finger. His eyes roamed the now bloodied street with a slightly grieved expression that he quickly masked with a fake cocky smile.
"It's been a pleasure, gentlemen…now if you'll excuse me--"
His words were cut off short as his power suddenly left him; so abruptly that his knees almost gave out as a surprised gasp escaped his lips. His jaw clenched at the unexpected pain that shot through his brain. It was so strong that he clasped his hands to his head with an agonized cry. His vision turned black for a moment and the pain increased, making him gasp for air. With a barely contained groan he fell to his knees, bending over as he held on to his head for dear life.
"What the-?" he stopped midsentence as another surge of pain hit him and a pained cry left his lips without permission.
"Well, well…who do we have here?" a cold voice echoed through the abandoned streets, making the pained man flinch and glance around him weakly, eyes clouded by the pain. "It's been a long time since I last saw you, oh infamous Lord of the Wind…Datte".
His eyes suddenly widened as he recognized the voice, only to be clenched shut with a grunt as another wave of agonizing pain seized his head. Slowly managing to reopen his eyes, he glared up at the young red haired man now standing before him; who was showing off a very amused smirk on his face.
"You know…I'm honestly amazed that you've been able to avoid us all this time" he said with a sly smile, the air suddenly filled with a dark chuckle as he seemed to think of something funny. "I'm quite disappointed that your little wench is not with you…" he sighed "and here I was hoping I could have a little fun with her…"
Datte directed a death glare to the man in front of him, breathing heavily from the pain, as he managed to raise his eyes from the ground.
"You bastard" he snarled "don't you dare do anything to her or I swear I-ugh!" he was cut off by a pain even greater than before as he once again bent over to grab his head in agony.
"You'll what?"the man asked, his green eyes bright with satisfaction at getting that expected reaction from the usually laid back man "will you summon the wind and send me flying away with one of your whirlwinds, Datte?" his mouth suddenly drawn down with a scowl "or will you try to avoid your problems like you usually do, you shameless coward?"
The man on his knees suddenly chuckled, not needing to look up to see the red-head's expression. The green eyed man had always hated him, and while he tried to hide it with his cold jokes and grins he knew he couldn't stand the sight of him.
"Why, Itami, if I didn't know any better I'd say that's hatred dirtying your mouth" he said, the smirk obvious in his voice. His smile slightly faltered when the man's foot collided with his stomach and he was thrown to his side, but the smirk remained in place. He had kicked him. He hadn't used his powers to make him cry out in pain; which could only mean that he had done that without really thinking, just acting on a reflex. Ergo, he had hit a nerve and annoyed the redhead to a pretty good extent. And that was certainly something to smile about.
The green-eyed man noticed his slip and cursed under his breath, hatred darkening his eyes as he glared at the smiling black-haired man sprawled on the ground. Again he kicked Datte in the stomach. Hard. Making him cough out some blood.
"You think you're so smart, don't you" he snarled "but you won't be smiling so happily when Kaien-sama is done with you…and trust me when I say that we will hunt down that ice witch too. And I'll make sure she goes through hell before you ever see her again." The smile faded from Datte's lips as he glared at the man with complete hatred, which only caused Itami's face to split with a sadistic smile "And don't think you'll get out of this unharmed either…"
The silence of the night was shattered by a cold heartless laughter, and it was the last thing Datte heard before an agonizing pain shot through his body with unbearable force. He couldn't help it. He shot his head back and screamed in agony.
Zoro woke up with a startled cry. His brow wet with cold sweat. Confused, he looked around and realized he was on the grassy deck of the Sunny, leaning against the mast, with his swords right next to him. The orange tint that enveloped the ship could only mean the sun was setting. He dragged a hand through his short green hair as he let out a breath he had not realized he was holding. Another nightmare, huh…
Although relieved that it had only been a bad dream, a part of him was worried it might have been real. The swordsman frowned at the thought. That bastard better be alright…
His train of thought was rudely interrupted as someone cleared their throat near him to get his attention. He looked up to see the orange-haired witch glaring down at him, tapping her shoe, looking extremely annoyed at him for some unknown reason. He figured he'd know soon enough though…3, 2, 1…
"ZORO! What the hell are you still doing here!?" she yelled "you're supposed to be in the crow's nest! What if the marines try to attack us!? Now move your lazy ass and get up there, you idiot!"