Reprise

by Kamiko Kiyo

On Hiatus.

2. Show me the Demon

AU: I apologize for being so late when I said it would be around every month, but I did say I was trying for that. But, still, 8 story alerts and 7 favorites. Glad to see there are people that like this. Anyway, to make up for it I give you the entire Zoro saga all at once. A few changes were made to the last chapter since posting, but nothing real important. Read and review!

Disclaimer: Nobody owns One Piece, but Oda-sama, we clear? All we have is the right to screw around with what he makes.

Chapter 2

"-h! Wh-...?"

"...you...-ave. Now."

"...just ...-ays I ...-ave to...-ten...you?"

"If...-nother ste-, ...wish...had," .

"...-ould lear-...place. No...between me an-...!"

"I ...-ned you,"

"Gah!"

"...-y!"

"Bastard."

"...are you?" .

"Cr-..."

"Hm, ...y-yah! Time...out! Ther-...no way ...-ighting y-...like that!"

"...?"

"Oh, ...-at all."

"..."

"Hey! I-... the same thi-...told ...other... I ...get ...stay out. ...-don't wan- ...here, so get ...damn su- ...and leave!"

"Put some clothes on!"

"What a day! It's gorgeous!" Yuuki was rudely awoken by the sound of a familiarly loud yell. I'll kill it, she thought darkly, blearily threatening the creature that was making the obnoxious noise.

"Hm, ah! Luffy, I told you you should keep your voice down, you woke up Yuuki," Coby said when he saw Yuuki sitting up and staring at him blankly. At first he'd been surprised that Yuuki could so easily fall asleep on the hard floor of a boat, but when he'd asked, Luffy only shrugged, saying she did that kind of stuff all the time. Of course, just what 'that kind of stuff' was, Coby had no idea.

Then he'd remembered that Yuuki had originally been sleeping in a barrel when they'd first met. After two more seconds of thought the boy simply concluded that these two were mysteries he'd never solve.

The haze of sleep was slowly starting to recede. When Yuuki realized that it had been Luffy's obnoxious shouting that had awoken her, all murderous thoughts ceased and she melted into a simple sluggish demeanor. "How much longer?" Yuuki mumbled, half asleep. It was a vague question, but did the job.

"As long as we can stay on this heading we should reach the marine base in no time at all," he answered, while steering the boat.

Yuuki rubbed her eyes and her mind slowly bring things into focus. She thought she heard Luffy praising Coby's skill to navigate. After which, Coby chastised Luffy that they were skills every sailor should know.

In the duo's defense, Yuuki was a decent navigator, but when she saw Coby immediately take up the steer, she thought she'd leave it to him. After all, that was the only thing Alvida had thought he was good for and the sole reason why he'd kept his life for the last two years while on her ship. As for the incident of when they'd sailed into that whirlpool... let's just say Yuki might want to refrain from her spontaneous napping until they got their real navigator.

Luffy laughed it off when the short boy had been trying to scold him.

"You know there's nothing to be so giggly about, because at the Marine's base," Coby paused dramatically, which caused both young pirates to look at him curiously to see what he was so serious about. "They're holding the great pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro. This is the man who's diced up his bounties like an animal bent on carnage. A bloodthirsty beast. He's been called nothing less than a living, breathing demon in human form."

Yuuki stared at him thougthtfully and, admittedly, still a bit drowsy. While the workings of her mind was usually a bit muddled when she was sleepy, Yuuki still observed the way Coby was acting. It reminded her much of the way he had described Alvida back on the ship. Seeing as Luffy had finished off the round woman so easily, she was starting to suspect exaggeration was just a part of the vision impaired boy's nature. After all, the fat lady wasn't nearly as strong as he'd described when they'd fought, so he must have just been very weak to see her or anyone else as such a threat.

"I don't know, Coby. I sort of doubt he's that bad," she voiced her edited thoughts.

He stared at her incredulously. "Yuuki, how can you say that? He's a bad guy!" Coby yelled.

"Just what exactly makes you think so?" she asked with an even stare. "What do you know about this 'Zoro' that hasn't been hear-say among those wimpy pirates you were stuck with? I mean, they were so quick to cower when they saw someone with an ounce of strength," she said referring to Luffy. "I don't think anything they'd hear of could be that reliable." Yuuki crossed her legs and leaned her arms on them as she stared at the sky lazily."If you ask me, it all sounds a bit too unreal. Like some story made up to tell kids that if they became pirates the big bad Roronoa Zoro would come and chop them to pieces," she dropped her head to meet his eyes. "All I'm saying is that you can't decide everything on rumors. Sometimes you have to see things for yourself with your own eyes," she gave him a hint of a smirk.

Coby remained silent, having no words to retort back to the older girl. He supposed she might have a point, but rumors like that didn't come about without reason or events that set them off.

Yuuki turned to Luffy with a small smile. "That's why we're checking this guy out for our crew, right Captain?"

"Right!" Luffy grinned back.

S

"I made it," Coby said with tears at the corners of his eyes.

Having reached land and venturing into town, the three had set off in search of the local marine base with a goal in mind. Some being less legal than others.

On the way, they'd seen an oddity, quite unexpected. The moment Luffy mentioned Zoro, all people within the market immediately crushed themselves to the wall, staring at the trio fearfully like small woodlum creatures that had been cornered. The same thing, to Coby's surprise, happened when there was mention of Captain Morgan, the leader of the base they stood in front of.

Luffy simply laughed in amusement at the sight of the locals, while Yuuki wondered if she'd stepped into a different dimension when she exited that barrel back at the cruise ship, seeing as everyone she'd met since then acted crazy. Coby also gave the event some thought, saying he had a bad feeling, which was all but forgotten now that they stood in front of the tall metal doors to a large structure that had the words 'MARINE' written across in bold letters along with the marine emblem.

The wannabe marine turned away from the building, trying to wipe his tears as he spoke/whimpered, "This is where you and I part our ways guys. We didn't have long together but- huh?"

"Where's the foot hold?" Luffy complained as he tried to climb the wall of the base.

"Just swing your foot over the top, Luffy," Yuuki told him, sitting on the edge of the wall. Since reaching town, Yuuki had taken off her bandanna and tied it over her waist as a second, loosely tied sash. It now dangled over the wall with her feet, which she absentmindedly swing back and forth playfully as she waited patiently for her Captain.

"Get down from there! What are you doing! They'll see you!" Coby flailed his arms nervously.

His warnings, however, were ignored.

"Now where's this demon?" Luffy thought aloud, scoping out the grounds for a sign of life.

"They wouldn't keep him out in the open. He's probably tucked in a prison cell below ground," Coby murmured.

"There he is!" Luffy exclaimed, jumping down before running to get a better view. Yuuki stared after her companion and then followed after the teenage boy, running on the top of the wall instead of jumping down.

Supported by another area of the wall, the pirate duo scrutinized the man, who they assumed to be Zoro. The person they saw was tied to a crossed post, slumped, with his head down, looking about as alive as the post his body was attached to.

"Coby, look," Luffy encouraged.

Coby somehow got up to meet his friends, but only looked at them in concern.

"I'm telling you he's not-" Coby's words died on his lips as he spotted Zoro in all of his demonic glory. He truly did look intimidating, but it would take more than that to scare off the young pirates. Coby, on the other hand was terrified. One look and you could tell the boy was ready to bolt.

"That doesn't look very comfortable," Yuuki observed.

"Yeah," Luffy agreed. He grinned as a thought came to him. "If we untie those ropes he can just walk away," he pointed at their target.

"I'm on it," Yuuki quickly volunteered with a languid tone, landing on the other side of the wall into a crouch.

Almost immediately after she entered the yard Yuuki could hear Coby freaking out again and frantically trying to call her back. When those warnings fell on deaf ears, the vision impaired boy turned to Luffy saying he was an idiot and after that the redhead tuned him out for real. She'd had anticipated this, so she quickened her pace just a bit leaving her Captain to have to deal with the human danger alarm that was Coby. If they were going to get anything done it sure as heck wouldn't be with Coby screaming about every move they made.

Back at the wall, Coby's worries were easily dismissed. "Don't worry, me n' Yuuki are strong enough to protect us all," the straw hat boy was just too much, Coby decided, as he cried helplessly.

Once she was almost half way to the so called 'Demon', he rose his head up so that all three of them could see his menacingly shadowed eyes that spoke, "Come closer and you die."

"Stop," he commanded firmly in a surprisingly low, but worn voice.

Yuuki did as he said.

"Hey, you two," he called, equally as drained.

Coby screamed in terror, while Luffy stared.

"You're an eyesore. All of you get lost," he said threateningly.

Coby screamed again, before going to Luffy in another one of his tirades. Something about dying if this Zoro guy joined their crew.

As if that was going to stop the ambitious Captain.

"There's nothing I can do about how I look, but I can do something about those ropes," Yuuki replied, taking another step forward.

"I don't need anything from you," he spoke snidely.

"You sure? Just give me a minute and the ropes will be gone," she informed him, unperturbed by his attitude..

"I don't care about the damn ropes," he growled.

"Don't they bother you?"

"You're what's bothering me. If you wanna make me happy then leave!"

Just then, all of their attentions were diverted as a latter suddenly propped itself up on the wall and a little brown haired girl climbed up. Shushing Coby, who she apparently saw as the loudest of the group, she looked around quickly before lowing herself into the dusty field by a rope.

Seeing her running into the yard switched the pink haired boy went from curiosity to panicky as he freaked, fearful for the child who apparently had no sense of danger. As she passed Yuuki, the green eyed girl followed her leisurely toward the Pirate Hunter, gaining only a brief, curious glance from the girl she was trailing.

If the little girl could get closer without the restrained man going ballistic, then so could she.

"What do you want?" Zoro asked the unknown child rudely.

"I thought you might be getting hungry now, so I made you a couple of rice balls," she smiled sweetly.

"You got a death wish, kid? Just scram."

"But you haven't eaten anything the whole time you've been tied up," the girl untied the wrappings in her hands to reveal her creations. "Here, I never really made them before. But I did my best, so I think they're fine."

Up till this point, Zoro hadn't been radiating the same killing aura that he had before the little girl came, but when he saw the food his eyes widened and he started to gain back a bit of his edge.

"I'm not hungry! Now stop irritating me and get out of here," he commanded more firmly, but again, his words didn't have much bite to them. "That goes for you too," he nodded at Yuuki. "Beat it! All of you!"

"But-"

"Do not make me kick your ass, little girl!" The Swordsman may have been allowed to yell at the little girl like that normally, but on Yuuki's watch he would not go without punishment. In an instant, the redhead's gloved fist was slammed down on the Swordsman's head without warning. "Ow! What the hell!" he yelled angrily. His right arm tugged on his ropes as if he were trying to reach over and rub the bump that had now swelled on his head.

"That was mean. Now be nice," Yuuki commanded blandly as if she were talking to a four-year-old.

"'That was mean!' You hit a guy who's tied up and defenseless and you think that was mean!" the restrained Bounty Hunter stared at the green eyed teen, angry and incredulous. "And dammit! That hurt!" he yelled, again failing to ease the pain by cradling his head.

"Hey, I offered to take the ropes off, but you said no. And, c'mon. It didn't hurt that much."

"Didn't hurt that-? I bet gave me freaking brain damage with how hard you hit m-!"

Zoro stopped at the sound of creaking and everyone looked at the gates on the other side of the yard as they opened. A man, who looked too arrogant for his own good, strode in, backed up by uniformed marines.

"Now, now, no one likes a bully or a whiner," the man with a mushroom cap haircut walked towards the three with an expression that made you have the urge to sock him in the face for no apparent reason.

He chuckled. "Roronoa Zoro, you seem be handling this well, don't you agree?"

Yuuki was hoping this guy would leave soon, so that she could untie their guy. It was obvious that he was with the Marines somehow, even though he seemed like a weakling. So, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to do anything while he was around. Luckily, he had yet to acknowledge her presence, which made Yuuki determined to not draw attention to herself.

"Looky, some tasty rice balls," he said, leering at the little girl like a creeper, before snatching one of her rice balls.

"That's not for you," the pigtailed girl protested. This made Yuuki twitch a bit, but she remained still hoping that her metaphoric invisibility would hold. Zoro just stared at the blond in spite.

"Like I care," he took a bite and suddenly made a really funny face that almost made Yuuki lose her statue-like state.

"Ah! Too sweet!" he spit them out. "They're packed with sugar! You're supposed to use salt idiot! Salt!"

This guy was quickly breaking down Yuuki's determination to stay still.

"But I-I thought they'd taste better sweet," she defended. Tears were beginning to form at the corner of her eyes.

"Give me that," he grabbed the other rice ball and, to the little girl's despair, threw it to the ground and raised his foot in the air, ready to stomp on the homemade food. In a second his face was slapped by a hand that came out of nowhere causing him fall flat on the ground after releasing a very unmanly cry.

"Oops, sorry 'bout that. I was aiming for the bee," Yuuki stated sincerely, despite the fact that there was no bug in the air to be found.

The little girl looked on in curiosity with forgotten tears in her eyes.

"Ah!" the blond cried in outrage. His face now sported a red mark in the shape of Yuuki's hand. "Please! What bee! I don't see anything!"

"Only the pure hearted can see it," she stated, looking off to the side disinterestedly.

He growled. "And just who the hell are you!"

"Me? Oh, no one," she waved her hand nonchalantly. "You know, from my stand point you seem like the bully here," she said, pulling a much serious expression. "All she wanted was to give that guy some food she made," she pointed at Zoro, who also watched her, wondering just what she was doing. "And you stomp on it like trash?"

Getting up and holding his face where he was hit, the 'man' pulled out a slip of paper and held it up to the girls.

"Well, too bad," the anger in his voice was apparent. "You must not have read the notice that was posted, 'Those who assist criminals in any way will be executed. Signed, Marine Capt. Morgan.'" Seeing the sudden look of distress on the brunette girl's face caused him to laugh in glee, "Hih, hih, hih, hih." Yuuki thought his laugh was weird. "It seems that even little brats fear my Daddy."

His Daddy? So that's why he acts so high and mighty, Yuuki concluded. And, as if to support her implication, one of the uniforms hesitated when he was told to throw the little girl over the wall, until the purple suited wimp threatened that he'd tattle to his Daddy if he didn't.

"Yes sir! I'll do it!" the man reached the for the child only to have his hand painfully gripped and twisted behind his back by a less than happy Yuuki.

"Hey! I said I wanted you to toss her out! Don't let some puny girl push you around! Now do it before I-ah!" While the blond was raving, Yuuki had released her grip on the soldier a little ways away from the girl and had begun advancing towards the mushroom haired guy. Said mushroom head took a step back, slightly intimidated when he realized she was right in front of him looking, decidedly, intimidating with her eyes shadowed by her bangs murderously.

Turning to the Marines he squawked, "Don't just stand there you imbeciles! Get her!" The two uniforms spared no time in charging Yuuki full force with the unspoken threat of being faced by the punk's father looming over their heads.

In the distance, Yuuki thought she heard the faintest noise that sounded like a frantic Coby as she dodged the first Marine's fists with ease and dropped down to knock his feet out from under him, sending him to the ground. When she got up she felt arms suddenly enclose around her body and found that the other marine had pinned her arms to her sides in a bear hug to restrain her.

Well, that was just a bit too close for Yuuki's comfort. "Hands off!" she yelled, immediately leaning forward and slamming her head back into the face of the Marine angrily.

Letting go and being distracted by his injured nose, she kicked him in the chest, sending him over a few yards to the ground.

Seeing the two uniforms down at her feet moaning in pain as a job well done, Yuuki turned to the wall to reassure Coby, who was most likely frantic throughout the whole fight, that everything was under control. She expected to see Coby sighing in relief and Luffy grinning at her fight.

Instead, she saw black. "Look out!" and a young scream resounded in the air as Yuuki's hair spilled out when her ribbon came loose and she collapsed motionlessly on the dusty ground. With her hair fanned over her face in disarray and how still she was, the redhead held a scary resemblance to a corpse.

Zoro had been watching the girl, who had hit him, with intrigue as she took down those two marines, but was distracted by a movement in the corner of his vision. That gutless bastard had taken up a stick from the ground and was about to hit the teenage girl over the head. Zoro yelled to warn her as the little girl screamed at the sight, but it was too late as the stick made contact with a 'thud' over the female fighter's naked head. Her hair blanketed her eyes after it came undone, allowing only her slightly parted mouth to be visible.

"Ha! That's what happens to those that defy Captain Morgan's son!" the spineless 'man' taunted before kicking the defenseless pirate in the the stomach, making her body roll to the side. "You two!" he yelled at the marines who were still in pain from their tussle. "You may not have been able to defeat this feeble girl, but even you should be able to take care of a child. Now do as I say or face my father!"

The little girl shrieked as she was lifted by one of the capped men and rocketed out and over the wall of the dusty yard.

"Damn you," Zoro muttered darkly to the man, as he was approached by the scumbag, who was laughing maliciously.

"You're just dead set on staying alive, aren't you?" he walked up to Zoro.

"That's right, and I'm gonna make it through the month without any problems," Zoro declared.

"Right, good luck with that," he continued to laugh as he started passed him and toward the gate. He stopped suddenly and turned to his escorts, "Oh, and drop that filthy girl somewhere. I don't care where she is, just get her out of here," he commanded, not looking back.

After a few seconds one of the uniforms spoke up. "Um, there's a...problem, sir."

Annoyed at his soldiers apparent lack of competence, he looked back at them. "What is it no-"

Scanning the open yard, the mushroom head saw everything in order, but couldn't help but feel something was out of place. There was dust, a few pieces of debris here and there, his two marine escorts, Zoro tied to a post, four solid walls, the stick he used to clobber that pesky redhe-wait, wasn't there an unconscious body of a girl laying a few yards behind him just a minute ago? The purple suit's jaw dropped and he jerked his head around the yard to find no extra body lying anywhere.

"Well, we kinda...can't find her," the uniformed man informed nervously.

"Arg! How could you let her get away!" he accused indignantly in frustration, but quickly recomposed himself. "Oh, well. She probably just crawled back to her Mommy and cried about her little boo-boo!" the 'man' let out another fit of laughter as he walked away with his two guards, stepping on the discarded rice ball and smothering it with his shoe as he did.

"Only ten days left," the Swordsman reminded him.

"You still assume you'll make to the end of those ten days, ha ha ha!" he was soon gone as his laughter dimmed to nothing.

There was silence as the wind blew, kicking up the dust and the Pirate Hunter stayed slumped quietly against the pole staring off into space.

...

"I know you're there. He's gone, so quit hiding and get down."

"What did you mean by only ten days left'?" Yuuki asked as she jumped down from her atop the tall pole Zoro was tied to, landing gracefully on her feet.

"It's none of you're business, you nosy, little brat. So why don't you do what I said and-"

"Hey, Luffy! That little girl okay!" the teenager called to her friend, who was approaching.

"HEY! I WAS TALKING TO YOU!" the demon in human form shouted angrily as Yuuki turned her back to him.

"Yeah! You know, you do a pretty good job of playing dead!" Luffy commented as he grinned.

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or not," she spoke with her Captain now standing next to her. Zoro looked at the newcomer and Luffy stared back blankly.

"So, I hear you're a bad guy," Luffy directed at the restrained Bounty Hunter. Yuuki looked back and forth between the two before taking the opportunity to pick up her forgotten ribbon and stash it away in her sash. She'd done enough for now and it was her Captain's turn to meet this guy and see what he was worth, so she relaxed into the position of a spectator.

"Are you still here too?" he asked tiredly, hinting that he wanted them both gone.

"You're stuck out for all the world to see and nothing. Are you really all that strong?"

"Mind your own business," he spoke loudly.

Luffy sighed and patted his hat to his head as he walked toward Zoro. Meanwhile, Yuuki watched with mild interest, twirling and playing with her hair.

"If I were you I'd probably starve to death in three days."

"Make that 15 hours," his Vice-Captain muttered on the sidelines.

"I've got more spirit than you could ever have," he smirked at Luffy. "Which is how I'm going to survive this ordeal. This I swear."

"Ha, what a weirdo," Luffy thought aloud as he began to walk away, with Yuuki about to follow.

"Wait. Hold on," the captive requested, making the pair glance back at him curiously.

Zoro looked down near their feet. "Could you...pick that up for me?" he indicated the smashed rice ball in the dirt.

"You're gonna eat this?" the straw hat teen crouched and picked it up. "Because it's mostly a ball of mud," Luffy looked at the 'food' uncertainly with the other teenager's request in mind. Even he might have had a hard time swallowing that.

"Shut up and give it to me! Now!" he demanded with a lot more authority and disrespect than you'd expect from someone tied up and basically at the mercy of the scarred man.

Luffy just stared at him dumbly.

Yuuki sighed with her arms crossed, before snatching up the 'rice ball' from Luffy and walking back over to the green bandanna wearing man. Looks like her break didn't last long.

Luffy being Luffy may just not have been able to comprehend what true starving felt like (as opposed to how often he whined that he was 'starving' every time he was hungry) or the desperation one would have for any food they could get in a situation like that. Luckily, Yuuki had enough brain power to sympathize and give this man what he wanted, instead of staring numbly into space.

Yuuki quickly threw the food into Zoro's mouth and watched him chew roughly and quickly, coughing a little as he swallowed.

"Should've listened to me," Luffy sung at Zoro with a teasing smile.

"It was good. Thanks for the food," Zoro said in a strangely gentler tone than either of the teenagers had heard from him yet. It was like he was talking to someone who wasn't there.

"I'll make sure to tell her that," Yuuki reassured him, smiling, as did Luffy.

S

"Really?" the little pig-tailed girl, now known as Rika, asked.

"That's right, he ate every last grain of rice there was," Luffy confirmed making the girl smile happily.

"He said that it was good and was really grateful for the food," Yuuki added.

"That's great," the child smiled, seeming to have recovered from earlier, which everyone was happy for.

"I wonder if Zoro is really as evil as everyone thinks that he is?" Coby pondered.

"He's not!" the girl defended looking at him. "He's good, because...he got himself punished. For us," she looked down timidly.

"You're uh...you're making no sense," Luffy stared at her from atop a barrel. Yuuki knocked him on the head from her slumped position against the wall and encouraged Rika to continue.

"Sorry, it's that dumb Helmeppo. He's the son of Captain Morgan…" she continued on to say that Zoro basically saved her and her mother from Helmeppo's abuse of authority as the Captain's son. It seemed that Zoro had him pretty much backed him into a corner until the blond freak said that he would hold Rika and her mom accountable for his actions. So, thus it brought up the deal of Zoro trading places with Rika and her mother and that if he endured it for a month then Helmeppo would let Zoro go as well as the ones he'd defended.

"It's been three weeks since that day… Helmeppo keeps punching and kicking him while he's tied up. He's being so unfair," she turned to Luffy. "I-I don't know how to help him," Rika started sobbing, but was cut off by loud crashing and breaking noises coming from her mother's diner.

They all headed inside to see Helmeppo barking orders at Rika's mother and acting like he was king of the hill or whatever he thought in that pompous so-called brain of his.

"I'm trying to think of something interesting to do since I'm bored out of my skull here. I suppose I can execute Zoro," he said laughing.

Luffy and Yuuki paused tersely, processing what they'd just heard. The bastard. He tied up Zoro and starved him for a month. Beating him up everyday when he was defenseless, and in the end he didn't even intend to keep his word? It was despicable. As the dots connected, they promptly charged forward without hesitation.

Luffy shot his fist square into Helmeppo's face, sending him flying towards the wall. Just when he was about to hit, Yuuki appeared on the other side of the room in a flash and clobbered him as well. Leaving him face first to the floor, rather than flying.

"You-you just hit me," he stated looking forward at Luffy, not noticing Yuuki's looming figure from behind, or registering the fact that he'd been hit twice.

The only reason the mushroom head even had this time to recover was because of the ever worrying Coby, who held Luffy back, trying to get him to stop.

"This guy is scum," Luffy gritted his teeth, staring at Helmeppo with a strange blankness that held underlying anger.

"You actually hit me," he still held his cheek in disbelief. "I am Captain Morgan's son, you know!"

"No matter who's kid you are, that doesn't change the fact that your memory sucks," Yuuki mused sarcastically, refusing to go unnoticed by this pathetic excuse for a man this time.

"Ah! It's you!" he turned and pointed as he saw her. He then shrunk back a bit at seeing the deceptively calm look on her face, while her entire being radiated a promise of pain.

"You keep spouting this crap about having a strong daddy and using that to do whatever you want to the locals, but let me tell you: us. We're not from around here and so who your daddy is means squat," Yuuki gave him a look of utmost contempt.

"Yeah, like we care," Luffy retorted.

"You'll care after he executes you for this!"

"Why don't you just be a man and fight!" Luffy took a step closer.

"You guys! Just ease off some, why are you trying to get on the Marine's bad side!" Coby yelled.

"I've made up my mind," Luffy said. Yuuki looked at him. "Today, Zoro joins our crew."

"I see." She turned to Rika asking, "Mind if I borrow something?"

S

Zoro leaned against his post, where he was tied up in the courtyard. He had made it almost all the way through the month, but still had a ways to go and it was truly beginning to drain on him. The Pirate Hunter found that, at most times, it was best to just sleep through everything. When he slept he was much less aware of his predicament and it killed time a lot better than anything else. I mean, what can you really do tied to a post for nearly three weeks but sleep? In these times, he lost himself in his dreams. He was not hungry, tired or bored. He just existed, unbothered by anything.

A time like that was now, as well as one when he dreamt of whatever his subconscious mind retrieved from his memories. Right now it was focused on that one place, that one person, that one promise and that one dream that had kept him going as far and long as he had. He was going to keep going no matter what and obtain what he most wanted in this world. Whether he had to go through the 7 hells and back, through the most excruciating pain imaginable or face the most difficult and deadliest of obstacles, he would live and reach his-

Splash!

"WAH!"

Zoro's head abruptly shot up as he yelled, but he soon calmed as the prickly feeling of needles on his skin began to numb over. Looking around frantically the Swordsman's eyes landed on two blurry figures he assumed to be people. Blinking rapidly to clear his vision, his eyes focused in on the scene. Yuuki stood in front him, slightly to his side, while Luffy stood a bit father away, staring at him, dead center.

"You guys again. Don't you have things to do?" Zoro rhetorically.

Yuuki answered anyway, "Yes."

"Well?" Zoro decided to humor them for a bit It's not like he had anything better to do.

"We're here, aren't we?"

"I'll untie you, but only if you promise to join our crew," Luffy said.

"Your what?"

"I run a pirate crew and we're looking for people to join up," he explained.

"No way! I'd never stoop to joining up with criminals," he turned his head defiantly. "Screw that business."

"And what's wrong with being a pirate?" Luffy had his fisted hands on his waist.

"Yeah," Yuuki asked with her hands behind her back.

"They're despicable."

"Well maybe you haven't met the right kind of pirate," Zoro eyed the green eyed girl curiously, but she betrayed nothing as she stared back.

"Whatever," he said, disregarding Yuuki's odd comment. "Like I'd ever want to join up with one anyway."

"Come on, give me a break. Everyone already knows you as some vicious Bounty Hunter always out for blood," Luffy spoke factually as if talking about something having to do with less carnage.

"People can say whatever they want about me, but I've never done a single thing in my life that I regret," he smirked in utter determination. "I will make it through this challenge...and after that, I'll accomplish what I want."

"Yeah~, that's great," Luffy said, trying not to discourage him but also keep on subject. "But I've already decided that you're gonna be on my crew." He turned away, cross armed, looking at something nonexistent in the sky.

"What! You can't do that!" Zoro yelled in outrage.

"Unfortunately for you, 'can't' isn't a part of his vocabulary," Yuuki informed, staying off to the side.

"I hear you're one of the best Swordsman around," the scar-faced teenager stated.

"Well, I am! But that idiot Captain's son took mine away."

"Guess I'll just have to go get it back for you."

"What?" Zoro said to Luffy.

"So, if you want your sword, you're just gonna have to join my crew," Luffy concluded, proud of the plan he had thought of all by himself.

"NOW YOU'RE REALLY PISSING ME OFF!" the captive shouted, stretching his neck close enough to make sure Luffy heard him.

And he did, he just didn't care.

Luffy ran off laughing like a little kid getting a free day at the amusement park. With the look on his face he could probably get away with the facade too, but, due to his age, he was just laughing like a moron.

"Wait, he's actually gonna bust in there? Alone?" he turned to Yuuki. He'd thought for sure that even if these two were stupid enough to pull off a stunt like this that they'd at least go at it together.

"Of course, Luffy may not have the best sense of direction, but he'll figure it out somehow," Yuuki replied. 'That's not what I meant,' the Swordsman sweat-dropped, but speaking of which...

"Hey, genius. The base is in the other direction," Zoro said as Yuuki pointed to where the Pirate Hunter meant to direct him. Said Pirate Hunter stared at her incredulously.

If she knew he was going the wrong way why didn't she say anything? Weren't they friends or something? All he could do was sigh at the promise their teamwork skills and abilities showed for this job.

"GUM-GUM ROCKET!" Luffy stretched passed them and Zoro's jaw dropped as he stared after the boy in shock.

"Wh-what the hell is this guy?" he inquired rhetorically, in bafflement.

Yuuki responded anyway, "He's a rubber man." He just stared at her in a daze at what just transpired. He soon snapped out of it as he heard a strangely familiar noise that sounded like hollow metal dropping to the ground. Turning to the source of noise, he saw what looked oddly similar to a-

"Is that a bucket?" he asked the redhead as she looked at him blankly.

"You mean you didn't notice it earlier?" she questioned.

'Earlier'? What did she mean? She'd only been there one other time and he surely would have noticed, had she been carrying anything, let alone a bucket, especially while he was watching her fight. Slumping his head while trying to figure out what she was talking about, the Swordsman spotted a puddle of wet dirt around his feet.

Now that couldn't be right, it had been sunny all day. There was no rain and any liquid would have been evaporated by now. And before you ask he did NOT relieve himself. Even if he could have, one learned that when you didn't eat for almost a month certain things didn't...process. At all.

Still confused, the demon turned his head up to see Yuuki right in front of him holding a bucket tipped over so far that water was about to spill over.

Finally it clicked and the two remained in dead silence.

...

"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF A SICK PERSON ARE YOU!" Zoro had never looked more like a blood thirsty demon bent on the carnage and mutilation of a single human being, Yuuki decided. "I'm tied up. Starving. And you HIT ME WITH A BUCKET OF FREEZING WATER!"

"But when I saw you out here before you looked like you had some serious heat stroke, so I thought bringing some cold water would help," she defended.

"And you just threw it on me while I was sleeping!" Zoro couldn't believe anyone could be such a dimwit.

"I thought the sooner you were cooled down the better, so...yes?" Yuuki muttered reluctantly, not wanting to get yelled at. This guy was going to be the first member of their crew and the last thing she wanted was for him to hold a grudge.

Zoro had no words to retort. Even if he did have the urge to bash her over the head, he was a bit too restrained for that, so instead, he simply steamed quietly and let his rage drain enough to speak and think coherently.

"Why didn't you go help your friend?" he asked, changing the subject to something that wouldn't cause him such a headache. "I'm sure he could use your help in there," And away from me, he thought. He honestly didn't expect the kid to even get inside let alone be able to find and bring back his swords. It didn't matter anyway, his month was almost up and then he'd be out of here and away from these ulcer-inducing people.

Setting down the bucket filled with water she said, "You were his pick, not mine. Therefore, he's gonna be the one to do most of the work. If he needs me, I'll step in, but until then, it's all him. Besides, he didn't ask for my help," she then sat on the upside down bucket she'd dropped earlier and brought her leg up to rest her ankle on her knee.

The way she spoke about Luffy made Zoro truly wonder if they were really friends or if she was just someone who he'd dragged into this just as he was trying to do to the Swordsman now.

"Did he dump the part of being on his crew on you too?" he voiced his thoughts.

"Huh? Well, sort of. It was actually a pretty convenient idea for the both of us. But this very easily could have been my crew instead of his if I'd wanted it to be," she told him.

"What?" Zoro had no idea what she was talking about.

"Well, it's like this. Luffy and I decided to both be pirates when we were really young. Since we had the same goal we thought we might as well be on the same crew. It was the first step towards our dreams," she paused. "But with the same dream, that meant we both had to be the Captain. And with only one crew, that wasn't going to happen. Luffy decided that we should fight for it, being his single-minded little self, but after a little while I let it go, and Luffy became the Captain you see today," she explained as she stared off into space, deep within her thoughts.

"You-you gave up your dream? Just like that? For his?" Zoro was slightly taken aback at hearing such story. It reminded him of his past with Kuina. They'd both wanted to be the greatest the world had seen, but they couldn't both have that title so they agreed to fight each other for it when the time came. Then Kuina's chance had been taken, so he'd declared that he would do it for both of thinking back, if it had been different, he didn't think he'd be able to give it up for her and neither would Kuina for him.

"Well, I knew Luffy wouldn't have been able to beat me at that time due to the circumstances. And anyway, even if I wanted to wait for him to get stronger, so that we'd at least be evenly matched, I knew he'd be too impatient to wait, so-"

"So, you gave up! You just gave up everything so easily for someone else without even trying!" the look in Zoro's eyes made Yuuki's lean back in surprise. It seemed that the demonic aura from their first meeting had come back full force and from the looks of it, it was quite possibly stronger.

"Yeah, but I didn't think-"

"What! You didn't think you could beat him when you got older! That's a pathetic excuse!" Zoro began to try and break his bindings as he still glared at Yuuki in contempt, who didn't know quite what to make of his reaction.

"I wasn't worried about that, it's just-"

"What could possibly make it okay to let your dreams go! Even if he was your best friend you never should've-dammit! Untie these ropes so I can kick your ass!" he demanded.

"Listen, it didn't-" Yuuki stood up.

"No, you listen! Skill is what makes someone strong, nothing else matters!"

"Wha-? What are you talking abo-?"

"Or maybe your dream meant so little to you that you could give it up so easily. Ha, what weakling you must be," Zoro stopped struggling and smirked mockingly. "Whatever, you'd never be able to reach your goal anyway with such weak resolve. You gave up on yourself. And what's worse is that you threw it all away for a scrawny little pu-AH!"

Zoro's head throbbed in pain severely, as he, yet again, was unable to settle the head injury he had gained by holding it in pain. Yuuki still had her hands clawed into his shirt, which she used to pull him forward. Shutting one of his eyes at the aching feeling of his head, the Pirate Hunter could see the bright red gash on Yuuki's forehead from where she had head butted him. She stared at him intensely. No hate, anger or frustration was there, just a piercing gaze.

After a few seconds she spoke.

"Who said anything about giving up my dream?"

"Huh? But you-AH!" she forced their foreheads back together again.

"We've both worked hard for what we want. And we still are, so don't you dare underestimate or belittle either of us," their heads clashed.

"Ow!"

"I haven't given up and never will. So, don't make any of your damn assumptions," the gash got larger and Zoro stifled a moan.

"No matter what, come hell or high water, we'll get a crew, set sail and find what we're looking for with or without you," Zoro shut his eyes tightly, awaiting the pain of another skull cracking attacking, but instead felt skin touch skin gently although still quite painfully due to the earlier skull bashes.

The Swordsman opened his eyes which widened at the unexpected sight. There was Yuuki, smiling softly very close to his face, with unexpected calm and peace. It was such an absolute difference from the looks she'd given him previously that the 180 change in attitude stunned him in surprise. "Bu~t, since Luffy really wants you to be a part of our crew, I'd rather go with you," she lifted her head and picked up her bucket as she walked away, leaving the tied up man in a perplexed daze.

S

"YAH! Ah, ah, ah!"

"Okay, so tell me where Zoro's sword is," Luffy commanded the purple suited sack of wussy that he was gripping.

"I'll tell you, I promise-oof! Just please stop dragging me across the carpet," said sack of wussy begged and the straw hat boy complied.

"Fine. Which way?"

"In my room, we just passed it," Helmeppo whimpered as he pointed down the hall. "Behind you on the left."

"Why didn't you say so earlier? Now we gotta go back," distinguishable annoyance was heard in Luffy's voice as he looked in the pointed direction.

"Don't move!" an armed marine commanded as a group of them appeared in the hall.

"Except for letting Helmeppo go," another added.

"No way," the intruder then pulled the body of a weak Helmeppo in front of him as a shield without so much as a blink. "But you can try shooting me if you want," he offered, probably not even caring if they did and made his shield usele-uh, uselesser.

"No!" the blond waved his limbs frantically, "Please don't shoot, go!" he shouted as Luffy moved forward with his 'shield.' "Get the hell out of the way!"

S

"Stay the hell away from me!" Zoro yelled as Yuuki came back with a fresher bucket of water.

"Oh, don't be such so dramatic," Yuuki came closer with her bucket in tow.

"Why shouldn't I be! You're just gonna throw it on me again, right!" although Zoro had felt better a little after Yuuki had dumped that water all over him earlier, it wasn't something he wanted repeated. It was like you were in hell and then it suddenly froze over. Only the ice didn't make it any better, it just made you stuck in frozen hell until the fires began to melt the cold away bringing you right back where you started.

"I'm not gonna throw it on you. This is for drinking. The first one was to cool down your outside body temperature to something less lethal," she lifted the bucket in her hand to show him. "This one is to cool it on the inside and to rehydrate you."

Zoro quit the defensive when he heard that, but still looked reluctant. "That's great, but I don't need your help. I'm gonna be out of here soon, so why don't you listen to me for once and leave before the marines spot you?"

"One: I don't care about the marines and two: either you drink this water or I throw it on you again," she threatened casually. Zoro mentally shivered at the thought. "Think of it this way, you've got ten days left, right?"

Zoro nodded.

"Well that dirty rice ball won't be enough, even if you do live through the ten days. A person can live at least twice as long on water alone than they would on food, because the human body is mostly made up of water," she paused, waiting for a response. When he gave none she added, "In other words, the more of this water you drink, the less suffering you'll go through."

Zoro seemed to think this over and growled weakly in frustration, "Fine, but if you think I'm joining your pirate crew because of this you're sorely mistaken."

Yuuki seemed to have lost her hearing after she heard 'fine' and was already in front of the Swordsman with the bucket at his lips with water ready to spill over. Zoro hesitated for a moment, before opening his mouth, ready to receive it like a waterfall, but Yuuki pushed the rim to his mouth forcing the man to drink from it like a glass. After several large, inhuman gulps, to anyone who hadn't seen Luffy eat before, Yuuki pulled it away to let the Bounty Hunter breath.

Looking up, Zoro saw Yuuki beaming at him. It was a bright, good-natured smile that made the Swordsman wonder if this was really the same dimwit who threw water on him without a second thought. "See? It's good."

Zoro stared at her thoughtfully. All this time she'd just been trying to help him, albeit the help was not always well thought out, but the least he could do was not scream at her. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all, or maybe between the hit for yelling at the little girl and the many head butts, his mind was beginning to become a bit scrambled from all the cranium assaults. Either way, Zoro felt he owed something to the pirate duo for trying to give him (unasked for) help. "Thank-"

Splash!

"Coby? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to set Zoro free, you have to get out of here," the boy said to the man, who looked much more demon-like at the moment than he had before the appearance of the wannabe marine.

"Damn. It. Kid," he ground out with clenched teeth and shivered. "C-cold," Coby had run behind Yuuki and over to one of Zoro's ropes, making the redhead loose enough attention on what was in her hands to accidentally tilt the bucket at an angle that nailed the captive right on his head with the cool liquid. "That maniacs gonna kill you for what you're doing right now," he was attempting to scare the boy more at this time, rather than advise him, due to his current mood.

"I can't stand to watch the marine's behave like this anymore," the pink headed boy ignored Zoro's threat, which surprised Yuuki, as he tried to undo the knot job on the ropes that bound the teenager. "A true marine should be honorable."

"Look kid I can't leave," now that (yet another) person had come to try to somehow set him free, Zoro came to his senses and took action. He hadn't said anything before to the odd pair, because anything that had to do with releasing him was only talk so far, but now that someone was actually untying him Zoro couldn't sit quietly. "I got ten days left. And then they're-"

"Well, not quite. They're gonna execute you tomorrow," he said, rather nonchalantly for a Coby.

"They're what?"

"Helmeppo never intended to honor your agreement. He planned on killing you from the start...which made Luffy and Yuuki really angry, so they just knocked him out," he stated.

"They did?" In his mind the Pirate Hunter couldn't see either of the two doing that. For one they barely knew him, so why did they care? Second, didn't they think for a second of the repercussions of punching out a spoiled brat, whose father was in charge of the military base?

Zoro was starting to see a line between the teenager's actions of insanity and something more. He looked at Yuuki, who met his gaze with crossed arms.

"What?" she asked.

"I thought you said since your friend is the one who wanted me on your crew, it's his problem. So, why did you punch out the idiot Captain's son when you heard about our broken deal? What do you care?" he inquired.

"Don't read too much into it," she said dismissively. "All I did was stop Luffy from wrecking Rika's mom's restaurant more than that brat already did. Luffy would have knocked out a wall with the guy if I didn't stop him from flying." Yuuki paused in thought. "I also couldn't pass up the chance giving him a good smack to the face while I had the opportunity."

Yuuki began walking forward to try and help Coby untie the man.

"Now that the Marines are mad, they're dead set on catching Luffy and Yuuki," Coby continued. He turned to Zoro sympathetically. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna ask you to become a pirate though." Going back to the knots, "But I hope you'll help have a lot of strength you can offer." Zoro looked forward pondering the boy's words. "These two are the only ones who can actually save you from execution...and of course, you're the only one who can save them from a similar fate."

"End of the line," a voice called out making everyone freeze and turn to see guns pointed at them by Marines who were backed up by, who they all assumed was, their commanding officer that...had an axe for a hand? "For the crime of treason against me, I sentence you all to die where you stand," Morgan said angrily.

Coby chose this time to suddenly revert back to his panicky self as Yuuki stood her ground firmly, looking defiantly at the law enforcers.

"And just who are you?"

"The famous Axe-Hand Morgan, of course," he stated pridefully.

She blinked, "Axe-what who?"

Coby stared at the Vice-Captain in confusion, momentarily forgetting his fear. What was she saying? Yuuki knew who he was. With him mentioning the Marine Captain in town, being read the notice by Helmeppo from his father and hearing continuously that he was the mushroom head's father and the cause of the town's problems, how did she not remember? Unless she was suffering from sudden amnesia.

The marine growled at the butchering of his title. "That's Axe-Hand Morgan!"

"Hm," she tapped her finger to her lips and lazily stared off into space in thought. "Never heard of you. Must not be that great," she shrugged.

"I happen to rule these parts and squish any and all insignificant bugs that stand in my way, such as yourselves," he went on, to expose what power he held over them.

"If we're so insignificant, why bother squashing us? Are you that afraid of any uprising?" It was then that Coby saw it. Even though she looked at the blond man blank and disinterested there was that mischievous gleam in her eye that he'd seen back on the cruise ship when she'd iced Alvida's feet to the deck. 'She's trying to goad him,' he realized. At that moment, Morgan began turing red in the face and looked ready to murder someone. 'And she's doing a good job of it too! Man, Yuuki! You're going to get us all killed!'

"I fear nothing! Besides, no one would ever have the gall to challenge me," he declared as his irritation and anger was rising.

"With the way you run things, I'm surprised it hasn't happened already," she muttered loudly, looking away. Zoro also saw what was happening and, despite the fact that he was tied up and at the mercy of the winner of this fight, he had to bit back the laughter building in his chest and the amused smirk that was threatening to adorn his face at seeing Morgan get played.

"You dare question my leadership!" he yelled outraged.

"You dare question my questioning!" she mimicked his tone back with a straight face. At this point, even the blond finally saw what she was doing and unexpectedly smirked at her.

"I see, you're stalling for time. You've been pulling some interesting moves around here. What is this?" he gestured to where Zoro and Coby were. "Some kind of poorly executed coo? You three planned with the Straw Hat!" he accused.

"Wo~w, that is pretty presumptuous based only on the fact that we're standing in a yard with a convict."

"I've always fought alone like a real man does...not like a coward, who hides behind his band of expendable cronies," Zoro bantered, but quite offended that Morgan would think he'd conspire with others to get out of his agreed sentence early.

"Roronoa Zoro. Don't you dare underestimate me. You may be a strong fighter, but under my authority you're just a rat we throw out with the trash," he retorted. "And you, you're a quick thinker and a smooth talker, I'll give you that, but that was an amateur's shot and I'm no amateur. Take aim!" he yelled at the soldiers, who gripped their guns.

'No,' Zoro was sweating, wondering how they were going to get out of this, 'I can't afford to die here.' Suddenly the memory of her flashed in his mind and her words resounded in his ears like a ghost.

'You're weak Zoro.'

Just then, Yuuki stepped forward.

"Zoro," she spoke softly, breaking him out of his trance. "You stayed out here for three weeks of torture. Most people would have resigned themselves to death. But even now you're still holding on." Yuuki didn't turn to face him and the Swordsman was asking himself just where was she going with this when they were all about to be shot bloody? "I don't know why you did it, but if you're that determined to fight to stay alive, for whatever your reason may be," Yuuki glanced back to see him with determination. "Then I will fight for your life as well."

With that, she vanished without a trace.

The first few seconds he saw her gone, Zoro felt immense confusion and even somewhat betrayed. What the hell! She brought me water to help me endure the last few days, lectured me on never giving up, and just said she'd defend me and the next instant she high tailed it out of here leaving us both to die!

Coby sank to his knees feeling it even deeper and even more perplexed than Zoro, Yuuki...?

Neither was given more time to think as Morgan yelled, "FIRE!" the sound of glass shattering could be heard just before the boom of multiple gun shots went off and Zoro squeezed his eyes shut. When he heard continual gun fire, but felt no pain, his eyes snapped open to see Luffy shielding them all, taking the full brunt of the bullets.

"What!" he yelled at the appearance of the teenager, who had three swords strapped to his back.

"No!" Coby watched in horror with tears in his eyes.

"Straw Hat!" Morgan shouted angrily at the pirate's appearance.

Everyone had watched in awe as Luffy's body began to stretch out in the path of the bullets where they had hit him.

The scar-faced Captain smirked. "See ya!" he yelled as his body bounced the shots back at the shooters and inches past Morgan's face.

The inhuman being laughed excitedly. "That won't work on me! Told you I was strong," he taunted to nobody in particular and laughed at his own antics.

"Your may be strong, but your aim needs work," said a voice. Following the trail of the voice, they saw Yuuki, high up in the air, standing on what looked like a storm cloud. "STORM DRIVE!" her hands whipped forward and a gray, almost black substance shot out aimed straight for the many uniforms.

Various yells and cries were heard as the men were bowled over by the massive storm. When it cleared, Yuuki leaped to the ground, landing on her feet, and it revealed only Morgan was left standing. He had has arms crossed in front of him and glared at the group, with all of his army laid out around his feet, on the ground.

"What took you so long?" Yuuki commented.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault. The liar guy took me the wrong way the first time," Luffy defended, blandly.

"Well, I'm glad you at least made it before the gun fire."

"What the-? Who the hell are you?" Zoro asked in shock of what he'd just witnessed. True he'd seen the display of the red vested teen's powers earlier, but that still didn't take away the shock of seeing it again so soon. And Yuuki, how was she standing on a cloud? A guy repelling bullets back with his body and a girl shooting storms out of her hands? What the hell man?

The two turned to the baffled captive.

"Kou S. Yuuki," she answered.

"My name's Monkey D. Luffy. And we're gonna be King of the Pirates," Luffy smiled, giving him thumbs up.