Ch 2: The Hounds Reunite
"You guys are pitiful." Rose moaned with her hands on her hips. Her bow and arrows were strapped to her back.
"I hate deserts..." Luffy said tripping on the sand. Sanji pulled his head out of the ground and placed his fallen hat back onto his head. "Thanks..." Luffy mumbled.
"We haven't even walked that far." Percy said, agreeing with Rose. Robin walked up the sand dune with ease. She stood up at the top and looked around. Rose and Percy quickly followed her while everyone else from the crew was having great difficulty.
"I don't see much." Robin commented to Rose.
"I know, but they're out there somewhere." She replied certain.
"Didn't you say that this place was endless?" Usopp said as if there was no hope.
"It is," She agreed. "But we'll be able to find them." Usopp sighed; he didn't see how that was possible. Once everyone finally made it to the top of the dune Nami asked Rose: "Do you some special way to find them?" She was just as skeptical as Usopp.
"If I know them well enough, they should be eating around now."
"What do you mean?" Sanji asked.
"Is there a restaurant down here?" Luffy asked with drool coming out the side of his mouth.
"No, not really, but..." She was about to explain when the ground started shaking.
"D-Don't t-tell me that it-it's He-Hell..." Chopper said, clinging to Sanji's leg in fear. Rose didn't reply.
"Come on." She gracefully slid down the other side of the sand dune and began running in what seemed a random direction. Percy followed her without hesitation as if he was just as used to this place as her.
"This should be fun." Robin grinned, the third to go.
"I have a feeling that it's not Hell, come on Chopper." Sanji said, picking Chopper up into his arms. "Let's go Luffy." He said, Luffy followed, excited. Nami and Chopper looked at each other and moaned. It seemed to them that everyone was forgetting that they were 'normal'.
"Hurry up guys!" Luffy waved with a big smile once he reached the bottom. They moaned again and started down the dune, however, they lacked the gracefulness of the others' slid. They both landed with a face full of sand.
"I hate this place..." Nami growled dusting her clothes off.
"Nami-swan...are you okay?" Sanji helped her up as if she was a fragile bird.
"I'm fine." She snapped, slapping his hand out of the way and storming after the others.
"Ah-Nami-swan's so beautiful when she's angry!" Sanji sang, spinning in circles.
"Want to help me up?" Usopp suggested.
"Do it yourself, long nose." He scowled. Usopp reluctantly picked himself up from the ground and dusted himself off while wearing a frown. He broke into a joke after Sanji.
"Do you know what we're running after?" He asked out of breath once he caught up to Sanji.
"No, but Rose-chan seems to know." He replied. The shaking slowly died down but never went away completely. The small group came to another dune, one much larger than the other; this one was around five stories high.
"What is it, Rose?" Chopper asked once they finally stopped at the base of the dune. Rose replied with a smirk and began to crawl up the dune on all fours. However, another violent jerk from the ground knocked her to the bottom.
"Are you okay?" Percy asked, catching her. She rubbed her head.
"I'm fine." From the other side of the dune everyone heard a loud roar.
"W-What is that?" Usopp asked cowering behind Sanji. They heard the roar again. It echoed in the black sky. "R-Rose?" Usopp demanded to know. Then they heard a familiar voice.
"Zoro, watch out!" Akio called from the other side of the dune.
"Zoro?" Luffy gasped. After that he stormed up the dune. "Zoro!" He called, desperate to hear a response. "Zoro!" When he reached the top of the dune something slammed into it and like an erupting volcano sand shot into the air. Luffy was knocked halfway down the dune, but he was determined to climb back up.
~*0-0*~
The blood soaked into the sand and Zoro and Akio waited for a moment. Then when the ground started shaking both took out their weapons. "Where is it?" Akio asked after nothing happened but shaking. Zoro looked around, trying to find the answer to that question. Then suddenly something burst out of the ground. Sand sprayed into the air like water, temporarily blinding them.
The two heard an echoing roar as a black shadow began to loom over them. Once the sand settled they saw a large, black monster with elongated arms and legs. The monster had no eyes but was still staring right at them. Its skin looked almost inky with small grains of sand sticking to it. The monster roared again.
"Zoro, watch out!" Akio warned. The monster flailed its arms and attempted to punch Zoro with its humongous fist. However, Zoro dodged in time and the monster only succeeded in getting its fist stuck deep into the sand. "Eh—I'm not this hungry…" Akio commented as he backed away.
"Still, it'll be a shame if we let it go to waste." Zoro replied with sigh.
"I guess you're right…" Finally, after several attempts the monster managed to yank its hand out of the sand. This time it turned to Akio.
"Zoro!" Zoro turned around at the sound of his name. He stared at the sand dune which blocked him from seeing whoever it was, but he didn't need to see him; he already knew.
"Luffy?" He mumbled under his breath. Another of the monster's roar brought him back to the fight. It had punched Akio who jumped into the air and landed on its arm. He whipped out his silver gun and began running up the arm as if it was a ramp. Zoro watched from the sidelines with a grin. Akio was normally cumbersome but when he got serious he was impressive—of course, not as impressive as Zoro. He crossed his arms and watched as Akio began to fire bullets at the monster's head.
"Zoro!" Luffy called his name again; it sounded closer now. Zoro looked over his shoulder up at the top of the sand dune. He thought he saw someone standing at the apex of it but when the monster flailed one of its arms it slammed into the dune and the figure disappeared in a cloud of dust. Can they really just be on the other side?
"Zoro, are you going to help?" Akio snapped. Zoro faced him again and saw he was desperately trying to hang on like a bull rider. Akio must've not heard Luffy while he was fighting.
"Sure, it I have to." Zoro sighed. He pulled out Wado Ichimonji. Even in the malign glow of the Lost Children the blade still looked like a pure soul; in fact the red glow made it shine white even more.
Akio wrapped his legs around the monster's neck and aimed his gun point-blank at the monster's head. With a playful grin he started to fire. The monster wailed in pain but still didn't die. That's when Zoro sprinted towards it, holding only Wado Ichimonji. He jumped into the air and sliced at the monster's arm. His sword went through as if it was paper. The arm was severed off and it dropped to the arm lifelessly. Instead of blood leaking out, there was a black mist which seeped out of the monster's shoulder.
"This thing won't die!" Zoro exclaimed while landing gracefully.
"You can say that again." Akio replied, exhausted from hanging on all this time. This time Zoro lounged towards the other arm and did the same. More black smoke escaped from its body, but the monster refused to go down. "Tch—this is getting annoying." He growled.
~*0-0*~
"Luffy, are you okay?" Chopper gasped once Luffy rolled back down to the bottom. He stood up and shook the sand out of his hat.
"Yeah…I'm fine." He replied with a serious tone.
"Did you see anything?" Percy asked, curious.
"I was knocked down before I could." His voice was still serious. Rose stared at him for a moment before dashing up the dune.
"Rose-chan, where are you going?" Sanji said with an intake of breath.
"I'm going to see what's going on." She said without bothering to turn around. Luffy ran up after her.
"They're so rash…" Nami moaned. The two quickly came to the top of the dune. Rose immediately took her bow of her back and prepared an arrow.
"What do you see?" Percy called up to them.
"It's a giant mystery monster!" Luffy yelled, waving his hands through the air. "Zoro and Akio are fighting it!" He added. That's when everyone started running up the dune. Chopper was so excited he tripped and fell, however, Sanji run up behind him and scooped him up like a toy, carrying him the way up.
"W-WHAT IS THAT THING?" Usopp gasped once he reached the top.
"I'll explain later." Rose said pulling the string on her bow back. She closed one eye for accuracy. The monster below was flailing around obviously in pain. Akio was riding its back, hanging on for dear life, meanwhile Zoro continued to slice the monster up into pieces but it never seemed to die.
Akio gazed up at the top of the dune, wondering where the voices were coming from, but when his gaze fell onto Rose his heart skipped a beat. Akio's eyes widened and a lump in his throat formed. His eyes wouldn't leave Rose. He mumbled, "Y-you're alright…Z-Zoro, look!" Zoro followed his gaze to the sand dune and he froze. He then sighed with relief, a small smile grew.
Without warning Rose fired her arrow; the point pierced the monster right between its eyes—or where its eyes should've been. Finally, the monster stumbled around on its cumbersome feet before falling on its face. The impact shook the ground and kicked up sand, but after that everything grew quiet.
Akio crawled off its back, panting. He slid his gun back into his cloak. He glanced over at Zoro and then back at the monster. It took a moment but soon the monster slowly began to disperse into the black smoke. The smoke then split into three different trails, one went to Akio, Zoro, or Rose. The smoke entered their body and they acted as if it was normal.
After a moment of silence passed Usopp and Nami said in unison: "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"
"Satisfied now?" Zoro asked Akio who nodded contently. A strong gust of wind suddenly blew by. There seemed to be voices traveling along with the wind—screams. Then that gust of wind knocked Luffy's hat right off his hand and sent it down the dune. Zoro reached out and casually caught it. His and Luffy's gaze locked. Then Luffy broke out into a smile. He slid down the dune towards Zoro.
"Yo," Zoro said impassively. Luffy grinned and said: "I think you have my hat." Zoro slapped the straw hat onto his head and pushed the rim down in front of his face. There was a serene silence between the two until Akio started yelling in the back ground.
"Rose, I was so worried about you!" He skipped towards her; by now everyone was already down from the dune. Akio embraced her in a bone-crushing hug. She simply patted his head while wearing an awkward smile.
"I was worried about you too…" She mumbled half-heartedly.
"So, how do you guys like Hell so far?" Zoro asked sarcastically.
"I sucks…" Luffy pouted. Everyone quieted down and turned towards him. Zoro looked at him confused; he wasn't expecting an honest answer. Suddenly Akio broke out in laughter and everyone couldn't help but smile.