Title: Final Betrayal
Author: AstroKender
Pairings: nearly gen, but with somewhat irrefutable hints of Luffy/Zoro visa-versa. Other pairings hinted at and/or mentioned.
Warnings: Rated T for swearing, violence, blood, and angst. Contains Spoilers. Additional warnings for me just making shit up, like future crewmembers, fighting abilities and whatnot.
Spoilers:Current manga chapters, crew and Luffy's relations. Do notread if you care about spoilers and are not up to date.
Notes: Remember children: nobody dies in One Piece! Not unless it's a flashback, anyway. Save your flames for the coming winter :)
Final Betrayal – Chapter Three
lies
"Monkey D. Luffy isn't the Pirate King."
It seemed the entire world hung on Roronoa Zoro's words.
"…I am."
Pandemonium broke out in the square. The crowd went nuts, pushing and stomping and yelling incoherently. Here and there a low-ranked marine raised his weapon towards the mob, fearing they would revolt. The higher-ups had their hands full trying to keep order among their own men; some didn't even bother trying as they stared, entranced at the unfolding drama. Dignitaries had leapt to their feet, nearly falling off the bleachers as they shouted angrily over top one another. The jury argued amongst themselves. The Five Elder Stars were spread out between them, calling futilely for order.
Off to the side, the rest of the Straw Hat crew had turned and stared at Zoro in horrified silence; shock written clearly across their faces.
Usopp recovered first. He swallowed nervously and attempted to scuttle closer to the swordsman. Zoro was heavily bound, more so than the rest of them. Thick chains wrapped around his waist, securing his arms in place—like their guards had feared the seastone shackles binding his hands and feet weren't enough.
Usopp searched Zoro's face questioningly. The other man didn't look well. Zoro's face was pale, clashing with his odd sea-colored hair. His lips were bloodless and tinged green around the corners. Twin spots brightened the swordsman's cheeks and his forehead was red and blotched with fever. His eyes were so sunken and shadowed that it looked as if he were wearing his old bandanna. All these things together made Zoro seem like one of Hogback's Zombies, making Usopp shudder to look at him.
His eyes. His eyes were definitely the worst. They seemed clear and unfevered but…they were empty.
"Zoro, what are you doing?" Nami demanded with a hiss, having finally found her tongue.
Zoro's empty gaze swept over them, like he didn't really see them.
"Just keep your mouths shut," he ordered, his voice low and quiet. To Usopp it sounded cold: dead. The sniper felt a shiver of premonition fizzle up his spine. He spared a worried glance up to the platform.
Behind them, a wall of ice suddenly grew a meter up from the ground, arcing in front of the crowd and preventing them from pushing forward.
"Aokiji…" Robin murmured, looking over to the metal chair where the admiral sat with apparent unconcern. While AkaInu --despite his age-- looked ready to stroll out and bust some heads, Aokiji was as unruffled as if he were sitting in a garden party. The third admiral, Kizaru, stood somewhere behind them, out of sight although his weighty stare was felt at their backs.
Smoker shoved past his slack-jawed subordinates to stand before the pirates (in front of Zoro, specifically). The scowl on his face could have cracked stone as he stared the other man down. Zoro stared back with infuriating calm. With a growl, Smoker reached out and grabbed Zoro's shirt and yanked him forward, almost flipping him over the barricade.
"Are you trying to say that you're the real captain of the Straw Hat crew?" Smoker snarled out, punctuating his question with a jostling shake.
"I am."
Smoker noticed the other pirates said nothing to this, though here and there a squeak or gasp slipped out. Smoker's eyes narrowed.
"I think you're full of shit, Roronoa."
Zoro's eyes finally focused, staring with an intensity that made the Marine almost question if it couldn't be true. But the words the swordsman spoke, so quietly that only he could hear, quickly told him the reality of things.
"I saved your life once. You owe me."
The words were damning. Cursing, Smoker released his grip as if burned.
"What difference can you hope to make?" Smoker's eyes cast up to the mute figure kneeling atop the execution stand. "You'll just be delaying things. What difference is a day or more?"
"It might be enough." Zoro spoke softly, his eyes following the other man's line of sight.
"It's useless."
"It's enough for me." The swordsman hissed out, anger tingeing his voice for the first time. "Now you have a debt, to both of us. Are you going to repay it?"
His face thunderous, the grey-haired marine's arm dissolved into a plume of smoke that quickly coiled around the other man like a python before lifting him off the ground. "I repaid it the minute I let you and your friends escape that city in Alabasta. Don't talk to me about debts, boy."
Zoro stared down at him silently, not even flinching in the smoke's vice-like grip. The two watched each other like statues frozen in time, neither moving, neither backing down. Seeing Zoro's resolve, Smoker's face suddenly bled of expression. Wordlessly he released his hold, dropping the swordsman back to the ground, before turning away.
"Whatever. It's your funeral." He turned to the captain of the guard and motioned him forward. "Let him speak." He ordered gruffly.
"Sir? Isn't that for the c-council to decide?"
"The council can eat shit." Smoker cursed, wishing Tashigi hadn't taken away his cigars. She was with the ship, though. He ordered her to stay there so that she wouldn't have to witness this mockery of justice.
Once more the captain tried to entreat some sanity on his superior. "Sir, this man is crazy! Just yesterday, he tried to beat himself to death. It took a dozen of my men to stop him! Clearly, he's unhinged."
Smoker turned and leveled the man with a glare. "He didn't get to speak his piece yesterday because you nearly drugged him into a coma. Let the man speak, damn it!"
"He can't very well stay quiet after dropping this bombshell on us." Aokiji endorsed the commodore lazily. Smoker regarded him with suspicion.
"Do as you're told," the ice giant brushed some invisible speck of dirt off his tunic. "Before our bailiff here blows his smoke-stack."
"Y-yessir!" The captain saluted and motioned his subordinates to drag the pirate forward but the admiral stayed them with a massive hand.
"Don't move him. He can speak from where he stands." Aokiji nodded, silently telling Zoro to proceed. Zoro stared at him, the suspicion in his eyes mirroring the commodore in an almost comical way. No matter, since it was what the swordsman wanted. Turning away, he took a deep breath.
I don't want to die, Zoro.
"Look at him," Zoro called out, his voice cold and clear as he jerked his head up to the top of the execution stand. "Do you idiots really think that that boy has it in him to be the most powerful pirate in the world?" Zoro made himself sneer.
Luffy looked down, his head hunched between narrow and shoulders and his gangly arms hanging loosely by the shackles. His mouth was distorted with a wide frown and his were eyes wide and dark, like an abused animal's. It was true; he didn't look like the leader of men, much less one of the most feared groups of pirates on the Grand Line.
"It was my plan all along to have Monkey D. Luffy pose as captain. Most of the crew didn't even know. It was the pact we made long ago, when I agreed to turn from bounty hunter to pirate." Zoro's voice was calm and steady as he addressed the jury; his face could have been cast in steel for all the expression it showed. "The kid just wanted a way into the Grand Line to meet up with Red-Hair Shanks; all to give him back some stupid hat."
Luffy could only stare at Zoro, the shock of his partner's words rendering him mute. Never had Luffy imagined this kind of betrayal. His mind shut down against it. He couldn't breathe. Couldn't speak. Nothing made sense anymore. Each word seemed to pierce his soul like so many cruelly driven nails. Something simmered below the surface of Luffy's consciousness, slowly rising up beneath the shock and the hurt. Luffy's teeth ground against it as bile made it's way up his throat.
Zoro continued mercilessly. "I'm not saying he's weak; many of you have faced him in battle to know that that would be a lie. But Luffy didn't have the will or ambition to lead, and I didn't need the extra attention distracting me from my goal of defeating Hawk-Eyes Mihawk. So, we compromised. Luffy became the Straw Hats' poster child while I was the mastermind, controlling everything from the shadows."
"Are you kidding me?" Sanji snorted, no longer able to keep silent. "Like Zoro could be the mastermind of any--"
Nami's elbow swiftly struck the blond in the gut. "Hush!" she hissed. She had no idea what was going on, but every extra minute was another chance to escape. The navigator figured this was just another hair-brained scheme concocted by those two boneheads: a way to stall for time. Stalling for what, Nami didn't know, but at least she didn't have to watch Luffy get his head chopped off. Yet. Her eyes darted around, on the look out for the cue to escape.
She felt Usopp's shoulder bump her own as he hobbled forward. Nami tried to reach out and jerk him back, not wanting him to ruin whatever Zoro had going here, but the sharpshooter had already opened his mouth.
"He's telling the truth!" Usopp shouted out.
Thinking the sniper was replying to Sanji's outburst, Luffy's heart began beating again. Whatever was wrong with Zoro could be dealt with later. Right now, Luffy counted on Usopp to set them all straight. He peered over the edge of the platform. His guards/executioners seemed more absorbed with the drama below then actually watching their prisoner. Luffy wondered if he shouldn't take this opportunity to escape.
But no, he wasn't in any real shape to fight until he could somehow get this seastone off him. He might be able to break the shackled off his arms; he'd already made a crack. But Luffy knew he wouldn't have enough strength left for the ones on his feet. And he couldn't just escape and leave his friends behind. Besides, for some weird reason his legs felt all shaky. He didn't know what was wrong with them all of the sudden, but Luffy guess he wouldn't get very far if he did try to run.
Usopp began talking again and Luffy listened intently, sure that his friend would make this messed up situation right. What was the point of getting executed if it wasn't for being the Pirate king? Zoro was an idiot. Luffy would punch him if he weren't about to be beheaded.
"I was one of the first crewmembers so I know," Usopp paused swallow, and his voice began to waver. "That what Zoro says is the truth."
"Usopp… what are you doing?" Luffy cried out. He felt like he'd been stabbed. Down below, Usopp began to shake.
The main speaker of the Five Elder Stars, the man with the long grey beard, stepped away from the jury. He approached the prisoner's corral, closing the distance with firm and measured steps. As old as the man looked, the power he exuded as he drew close was enough to make Usopp knees weak. The sniper put all his will into standing straight as the old man stopped in front of him.
"Is this true?" he asked, his voice soft but his eyes sharp and penetrating and absolutely terrifying. "Is Roronoa Zoro the real captain of the Straw Hat pirates?"
Usopp glanced behind him and suddenly knew that he alone had realized why Zoro was doing this. The others thought it was a joke, a distraction, or simply that the man had lost his mind. The shock of it kept them from figuring it out. But Usopp saw it. In a way, he'd been waiting for it since he first met the powerful yet kind-hearted pirate.
Usopp turned to look at Zoro. The swordsman stared back stoically, his face revealing nothing but his eyes holding some small spark…something dark and pleading. In those eyes Usopp saw the confirmation of everything he had guessed. He met the swordsman's stare unflinchingly; trying to convey everything he was feeling in that stare. Then, looking away, Usopp did what he did best.
He lied through his teeth.
"H-he is!" Usopp answered. He ignored Luffy's cry of dissent. He ignored the gasps of the others. Deep inside, Usopp's heart was breaking. He ignored that too.
"I found out by accident, having overheard him and Luffy talking one day. I-I was discovered. Zoro threatened to kill me if I ever told…" Usopp's voice was strained, but never wavered. "Luffy was just a figurehead. He was the fall boy in case something like this happened. H-he didn't even defeat half the people you think he did! It was all this guy right here."
"Usopp, stop!" Luffy screamed hoarsely.
Usopp could feel the man's eyes boring down on his, full of agony. His own eyes were tearing up. Usopp took a deep, shuddering breath, and closed his eyes, preparing to make an enemy of his captain for the rest of his life.
"Zoro is the real Pirate King!" the sniper shouted for the whole crowd to hear. Usopp turned and stared up at the rubber-boy, his eyes blinded by tears. "Luffy, I'm sorry--!" he choked out.
Unable to face his captain any longer, Usopp wrenched his gaze away from the sun-struck platform to stare along with the rest of the crowd at Roronoa Zoro. He was actually smirking! Suddenly Usopp hated Zoro. Hated him for making him do this, hating him for that sharp look in his eyes, the look that told him his plan as plainly as if he had spoken it aloud.
Usopp could see it all clearly. If Luffy were to die this day… whether in battle or by his own hands, Zoro would not be far behind. They were being given a choice, sacrifice one of them, or lose them both.
Why? Usopp railed silently. Why couldn't you come up with some other plan? Why couldn't we think of a way out of this? Damn it, Zoro! I don't want to see you die either!
The old man had turned, looking towards Smoker and Aokiji. "Do you believe them?"
Smoker scowled and looked away. "You're the jury aren't you? You figure it out."
Aokiji scratched his chin and shrugged. "There are many mysteries in the world, it seems."
The Elder Star sighed and passed a hand over his brow. "This is… quite unprecedented. I need to discuss it with the others." He moved to rejoin the jury, whose heads came together in quiet deliberation.
Sanji turned his head once he was sure they were more or less being ignored. "Alright, what are you two trying to pull?" he demanded in a low whisper.
"Zoro…?" Chopper stared up at the swordsman, his eyes wobbling. The reindeer looked hurt and confused.
Zoro remained staring straight ahead, his eyes dark and his lips sealed. Usopp looked over at him uncertainly before reluctantly following suit.
signal
"Oh, Mr. Bushido…" Vivi felt tears run in unhindered rivulets down her face. "How could you? What were you thinking?"
Of course, the princess knew exactly what Zoro had been thinking. She'd seen the look in his eyes; she knew it was even now mirrored in her own. Zoro wanted to save Luffy, by any means possible. And he got Usopp to go along with it! This plan must have been a last ditch effort after everything else had failed. Vivi couldn't really blame him; she wanted to save Luffy too. So badly that when the swords were raised about his head, Vivi couldn't help the desperate cry that escaped her lips, causing those sitting around her to turn and stare.
She looked up at Luffy's silent form and found that the tears came only harder. Luffy looked empty. Lost. It was as if he were already dead. Vivi's heart ached as she watched him.
Didn't Zoro understand? There was no way Luffy would want to live with this heartache!
The betrayal was one thing, and probably stung painfully Luffy's pride as a man and as a pirate. But seeing a friend executed (for Vivi knew this was the only possible outcome) in his stead… Vivi saw a glimpse yesterday, a tiny fragment of what the swordsman felt for his captain. She didn't know how much of that feeling was returned, though she had her suspicions. But he was undeniably crew, comrade, and friend. His death would crush someone as caring as Luffy.
A shadow cast itself over Vivi, before vanishing and reappearing once again. The princess looked up. It was nothing but a bird. But wait, that silhouette looked strangely familiar….
"That is the signal." A deep voice murmured behind her. "Don't turn around." He warned, just as she was about to do so.
"Chaka?" Vivi whispered, feeling hope seeping slowly into her heart.
"Pell has seen them from the harbor. It won't be long now. The Straw Hats need only to stall for a little while longer."
"A rescue?" Vivi gasped, fighting to keep her voice down.
"Some old friends of theirs." She could hear the smile in the dark zoan's voice.
"Oh Chaka!" Vivi felt fresh tears fall, but these ones were from relief. She straightened suddenly. "But, wait! How will we let them know?"
"We don't." Chaka's voice was deep and smooth and reassuring, even if his words were not. "If fate is with them, they can all be saved without coming to harm. The swordsman has done a good job delaying the jury. It was unforeseen, but we already feared our own diversion could be traced back to us, and therefore you, Princess."
"You never told me any of this!" there was a hint of reproach in the soft voice.
"We didn't want to get your hopes up. This plan was only half conceived, and depended on many variables that could never really be confirmed."
Vivi wasn't really listening as elation swelled up inside her, almost giving her wings. Her dearest friends would be saved. Plans began to form in her head. She would whisk them away; hide them so deep in her desert kingdom that no marine could find them. She'd take Luffy aside and she'd—
"Come away, Princess. Quietly, as no one is looking our way."
"But--"
"Igaram is waiting with the ship. This place soon grows dangerous; we must get you out of here at once. Besides, the government mustn't know we had any hand in this."
Vivi stared at her friends, so close but yet so far from her reach. Sometimes she wished she had joined them, when they asked long ago. But, she loved her country and its people, and couldn't really abandon them. That was a fact that had never changed. But she had faith, and now hope in her heart, and she clung to both desperately. Vivi steeled herself and gathered her skirts around her.
"Alright, Chaka." Her tone was even: the tone of royalty. "Let's go."
She would just have to continue loving the Straw Hats, and Monkey D. Luffy, from afar.
mute
"If you've got some plan, let us in on it, man!" Franky's voice was too loud, making the others cringe and look around to make sure no one overheard.
Nami stared up at the execution platform, studying Luffy's slumped form. He had sounded like he was in so much pain. Luffy couldn't lie to save his life. And Zoro was too straightforward to put on such an act, wasn't he? That meant even if his words were a lie, there was something underneath it --some core of motivation forged by their captain's desperate situation. Nami's lower lip began to tremble as the truth slowly began to set in.
"Zoro--" Nami began, but was interrupted.
"No talking!" AkaInu barked, his hands clenching his weapon. "I tell you these guys are gonna try something." This he directed at Aokiji. "We should separate them; take the rest back to their cells."
Aokiji crossed his long legs. "This demonstration would be pointless if the pirates weren't here to witness it," he said, while toying idly with his sleep mask. "Besides, what could they possibly do?" It seemed if his eyes darted to Zoro for the briefest of seconds.
"We're under orders." Smoker added, refusing to look at anyone. "Until those old geezers decide whose head to cut off, the prisoners have to stay here."
AkaInu cursed. "I don't know how we got stuck guarding this scum with an upstart punk like you."
"Probably because you're too old to do the job right." Smoker flashed his teeth in something that was not really a grin and more like a wolf showing dominance. AkaInu flushed red and started towards the other threateningly. He stopped in his tracks however, as one by one the jury began to rise.
The head of the Five Elder Stars stepped forward, his hands folded into the wide sleeves of his judicial robe. His head was bowed, like a monk in prayer. But there was nothing priestly about the angry glint in his eye.
He was furious at this wrinkle in their plan. With a few well-placed words, that damn swordsman had all but cleared his captain of all charges.
In the old days, such a thing wouldn't have mattered. If the CP9 still existed, the whole affair could be taken care of quietly, with little fuss. But the World Government's personal assassins had been defeated by the very pirates they were now trying to convict. And with the eyes and ears of the world on them, the leader of those wretches had just slipped out of the noose.
The old man looked up at the accused. "Monkey D. Luffy, what say you to your friend's claim as Pirate King?"
"He's lying." Luffy said flatly, a cold and quiet anger lacing the words.
"And what proof can you offer that you are what he is not?"
Luffy, frowning, couldn't come up with an answer. The Pirate king was the Pirate king; what proof did he need? Here and now, however, his silence felt damning.
"I see." The old man turned away. "Roronoa Zoro, Why are you making this claim now; knowing that doing so can only hasten your own execution?"
Zoro seemed to think briefly on his answer. His words, when he spoke them, were short and simple. "If you worked this hard to get where you are, would you want someone else to take the credit?"
Many in the crowd murmured in agreement. "I can't believe this guy," some guy in the bleacher commented loudly. "His ego's so big he'd rather die than let someone else be called Pirate King!" His words caused a small ripple of nervous laughter that was quickly quashed in the heavy atmosphere.
"Besides." Zoro continued. He stared at the ground, his voice gruff. "Even if he was a fool, he was a useful one. I don't want his blood on my hands."
The old man nodded his head. "Very well then. It is hereby decided by this council that Monkey D. Luffy will not be executed on this day or any day hereafter until this matter can receive a full investigation. He will remain in Loguetown as prisoner of the Marines for his crimes of piracy: a charge that cannot be denied." He glared pointedly at the members of the Straw Hat crew as if daring them to refute him.
It couldn't be helped, he thought. The crowd was too big to execute Monkey D. Luffy when someone else had confessed to his crimes. As powerful as the government was, they could still be overthrown if the people rose up against them, and publicly executing a potentially innocent man could stir enough sympathetic hearts that would have these peasant dogs turning on their masters. Wanting to go public with the trial had similarly turned on them. Far from stamping on the flames of piracy, if the government did not tread carefully, they would find themselves consumed by it. That was unacceptable.
"However," his voice rose over the crowd's mix of shouts and cheers. "Upon considering the claims of Roronoa Zoro and taking into account his confirmed crimes against our government, it is this jury's unanimous decision that he be convicted and sentenced to death: a sentence that, due to this man's dangerous nature as shown by his brutal wounding of two of his guards just yesterday, will be carried about immediately."
"What?" Luffy's eyes widened.
The crowd below broke out in excited murmurs, most feeling that their time standing under the hellish sun was well spent. Finally, some action! This day was going to be historic, and anyone actually here was going become historians of sort, telling and retelling this story in bars across the ocean, awash in awed attention and free rounds of drink.
"Commodore Smoker, if you will please assist in the exchanging of the prisoners."
"No!" Luffy lunged forward and his guards had to drop their nodachi to keep the pirate from flinging himself off the platform. "You can't kill Zoro! It's supposed to be me!"
He struggled weakly, seastone and shock sapping his strength. Luffy watched Smoker move towards his swordsman. His lips moved, saying something that the others couldn't hear. Zoro nodded and Smoker grabbed him by the arm before dematerializing into a cloud of smoke that pushed Zoro up into the air. Luffy watched as Zoro drew closer in billowy pillows of grey. Before he could draw in his next breath, they were suddenly standing behind him.
Luffy was yanked to his feet as Smoker reformed. Twisting his head around, Luffy stared at his first mate. Zoro's face was drawn and closed, whatever emotions he bore were shut off tightly behind his eyes.
"Why?" Was all that Luffy could think to ask as he was passed into Smoker's iron grip.
"Get these things off me," Zoro snarled in Smoker's direction, indicating the thick chains around his arms and torso. "You know I'm not going anywhere." His eyes passed over Luffy like he wasn't even there.
Smoker scowled but released the locks, letting the chains clank to the floor. "The cuffs stay," he said in a tone that brooked no argument.
"Why, Zoro?" Luffy asked, his voice getting a hard and desperate edge.
Zoro lowered his eyes to meet his captain's. Luffy saw the sweat beading across his brow; he saw his Adam's apple dip slightly as Zoro swallowed.
"The ones who are important will know the truth," Zoro's voice was rough, and barely above a whisper. He looked away. "Just remember that."
Luffy reached out, his hands rising unconsciously towards one who meant so much to him. Frowning, Zoro knocked them away.
"If you're a man," he added, his voice sounding strangely hoarse all of the sudden. "You won't try to stop me."
"Zoro…" Luffy was suddenly being lifted up and into the air. "Wait!" He flailed about, his kicks punching harmlessly though the smoke. "Leggo!"
"Take care, Luffy." Zoro told him, a ghost of a smile crossing his face.
Still struggling, Luffy's throat closed up and he found to his horror that he couldn't reply.
denial
"This—this can't be happening…" Nami stared up in shock. Luffy dropped from platform in a controlled descent, cushioned by a thick layer of smoke. Zoro was now willingly falling to his knees in the exact spot Luffy was forced into moments before.
"He's giving Luffy a chance," Usopp whispered beside her. His voice was thick and choked with tears. "In the end, it might not even matter, but he's taking the chance. You know Zoro; he had to do something."
Nami frowned, tears creeping into her own eyes. "Yes, but why this way?"
"That god-damn, selfish, marimo bastard!"
Nami looked over to where Sanji stood, a bit in front of her and the others. She couldn't see his face, but his shoulders were shaking.
"Executioners, take your positions." The graybeard leader ordered. The guards at the top of the platform scrambled to pick up their swords.
"Luffy!" Sanji shouted out across the square. "What the hell are you waiting for? You're not going to actually let this happen, are you? Go save him, damn it!"
Luffy was standing a couple yards away from the execution stand, staring silently upward while under Smoker's watchful eye. His face was dark and fists were clenched so tightly blood dripped from between his fingers, but he was making no move to free himself. Nami had seen him talking with Zoro up on the platform; she wondered what had been said that would stay Luffy's hand.
"Damn it, Luffy!" Sanji was shouting again, ignoring the barked order for silence by AkaInu.
"Sanji, he can't!" Nami hissed out, her eyes alternating between their guards and their captain. "If he tried he'd be in exactly the same situation as he was in. Only this time they'd execute them both."
"Since when does Luffy think about shit like that?" Sanji spat out, his eyes not leaving the platform looming above.
"Sanji is right." Robin spoke softly, her first words since the switch. "Something else is holding him back."
"But, if we just stand around like this--" Sanji broke off, a desperate look in his eyes. Nami realized that the blond never thought that anyone would really be killed today. She bowed her head, unable to meet his gaze. Sanji was just too innocent sometimes. It was far too easy for someone too die…
"Damn it, if he won't save that idiot, then I will!" panicked and exasperated, Sanji put his hands on the ice wall, preparing to vault himself over it.
His hands were suddenly covered in a thick film of ice. Eyes wide, Sanji tried to yank himself free but he was stuck fast.
"I'm afraid I can't allow anyone else to interfere." Aokiji spoke calmly from his chair. "I only want this to be finished so I can get out of this suffocating heat. Please understand."
The ice began to spread, creeping across the ground and up all of their legs, sealing the pirates in up to their waists. Kidd bit off a scream and the others gasped in a combination of shock and the freezing pain of their bonds. Robin's blue eyes narrowed and she shook, though it didn't appear to be from the cold.
"Swords raised!"
Everyone looked up to see the twin nodachi arcing up into the air, their edges gleaming sharply.
"ZORO!" the name was torn from a throat that was raw with suppressed emotion.
Biting her lip, Nami looked with everyone else at Luffy's thrashing form. A cocoon of ice, identical to their own, had formed all the way up to Luffy's chest. He struggled against it, his eyes wide and desperate as he stared up at his swordsman.
The leader of the Five Elder Stars regarded Luffy with something akin to triumph in his eyes. "Do it." He called up over his shoulder.
"NO!" Luffy's voice rung through the plaza.
A large explosion echoed him.
apology
The blast was deafening. Everyone's attention jerked over to where screams were erupting within a billowing cloud of smoke. The giant flagstones had shattered upwards; the explosion ripped through the very heart of the marine force. The air was drowning in the sound of scared and wounded men and falling rubble. AoKiji's ice barrier crumbled from the resounding shockwave.
After that, many things seemed to happen at once. The jury was suddenly under fire from an indiscernible direction. Many of the judges dove under the long table, seeking cover while the Elder Stars swatted away the bullets like one would a fly. Each age-lined face had turned an ugly shade of purple at the audaciousness of their unseen attackers.
Marine captains shouted orders, splitting their divisions between controlling the crowd that was spilling through and covering the fallen. Rifles were waved wildly as soldiers tried to pinpoint the source of the attack. The crowd itself was torn in two, one half standing in stunned silence while the other pushed and shoved their way out of the square, trampling anything in their way without heed.
AkaInu and Kizaru moved to cover the jury while Garp and his men protected those sitting exposed on the bleachers. Aokiji remained where he was, watching the imprisoned pirates with a thoughtful expression, as if trying to decide if the Straw Hats had somehow instigated this. Smoker kept a firm grip on Luffy, who was still staring at the platform and the figure atop it.
Zoro hadn't moved, but took in the arising chaos with a faint light of hope in his eyes. He ignored his executioners, who had lowered their swords and were looking about with shocked and confused expressions. It seemed everyone's attention was caught by the tableau below.
He could see everything from up here; the hexagon-shaped square was laid out before him like a map. Most of the crowd seemed to be fleeing back down the main road, but the route was so congested no one was really getting anywhere. To the left, the bulk of the marines still congregated, alternating between covering the area and sifting through the rubble for fallen comrades. A few stray bullets were aimed into the hoard; just enough it seemed to keep the soldiers from rallying. Zoro thought he saw a glint of metal in the window of one of the buildings walling in the plaza.
Suddenly, marines furthest away (standing in the mouth of the left side street) began to shout and started firing at something Zoro couldn't see. Then, he could make out a figure walking out of the smoke. And where he walked the men around him fell, overwhelmed by some invisible force. The man's walk was slow, deliberate, with no apparent concern for the bullets whizzing past his head. Like a specter of death, he slid into the square, a wide circle of men falling unconscious —or dead— around him.
Now that Zoro was studying him, he thought the man's head shone with an unmistakable tint of red.
Not all the marines were falling, Zoro saw. But those that didn't were quickly picked off by the two figures trailing behind the mysterious man. One of them was tall and broad of shoulder; he swung something around (a rifle?) like a club. The other was easily as wide as he was tall, and reminded Zoro of Luffy's Gomu Balloon. The man was insanely fast though; Zoro's eyes could barely keep up with him.
By now the admirals were moving to intercept the intruders. They knew that the Elder Stars were more than strong enough to take care of themselves. Mere bullets weren't going to be enough to take down the heads of the government. As to the other members of they jury… they would be tragic but acceptable losses. The shots aimed at them were coming less frequently anyhow, with brief pauses in between, like the shooter was stopping to reload.
Zoro looked over to his friends in frustration. They still stood captive, bound in chains and ice as they looked around wildly. Whoever was behind this attack was doing a bang up job of getting them out of here. Their would-be rescuers weren't even anywhere near them! They were still off to the left, battling the entire Loguetown Marine force. They weren't even making an effort to move this way; they seemed happy enough to have everyone's attention…like a big distraction…
Wait a minute.
Zoro straightened his shoulders and cast his gaze across the plaza, looking for something –anything— out of place. His eyes ran over the crowd; still a churning mass of bodies that no one would be able to get through. Zoro suddenly smirked. Though apparently, there was no trouble going over the crowd.
As he watched a thin figure bleached white hopped from head to head with a gracefulness only available to someone not burdened with flesh. Brook traveled swiftly towards the center of the square, a long bundle tucked in his arms and something shiny dangling from his belt. The keys to their cuffs.
By now Zoro was grinning. He was sure they had left that moldy old pile of bones back at Reverse Mountain with Laboon and the old man. And if Brook was here…
"Sirs, Sirs! Something is attacking our ships!" A young man had managed to squeeze himself through the throng and was shouting, panicked-stricken, up at the Elder Stars.
"What?"
The thin voice was barely heard amid the chaos. "Our ships! They're disappearing one by one into the harbor. Something dark is swimming out there. Some huge monster that's swallowing our ships whole and leaving nothing but jetsam in its wake!"
That would be Laboon, Zoro thought, as he watched the old bastards stare at the man, at a loss for words. Their orderly little execution had turned into a revolution. If Zoro couldn't believe his eyes as some of the people in the crowd actually turned round and started fighting the marines!
Brook had gotten to where the rest were being held. The only thing now standing between his friends and freedom was Aokiji. Zoro held his breath. This fight held everyone's fates. Zoro prayed that the skeleton's swordsmanship was up to snuff.
But Brook didn't draw his weapon. He just stood there, as the ice giant talked. Zoro couldn't hear what was being said but, whatever it was sent a shock through his companions. Robin said something in return, and Aokiji's reply seemed to leave her shaken. Suddenly, the admiral turned and walked away, focusing his attacks towards the commotion arising amidst civilian and marine.
The ice binding their legs receded.
Brook hastened forward to free his friends from their seastone bindings. Ripping open the bundle he carried, the skeleton quickly passed around everyone's weapons. Zoro saw his swords amid the rest and felt a swift ache in his chest.
The pirates stood for a moment in a small island of calm. Nami pointed over to Luffy, who was still bound and being held by a scowling but unmoving Smoker. As one, the eight turned and began heading toward the commodore, intent on getting their captain back. Luffy, whom Zoro could have sworn hadn't been paying a bit of attention…Luffy's words stopped them.
"Help Zoro!" he ordered.
They all turned to look up at him.
Zoro saw suddenly that the government leaders were not longer standing idle. Four of the Five Elder Stars were heading off the pirates. And the idiots hadn't even noticed yet.
"Run, damn it." Zoro muttered, as his friends continued to stare up at him, as if still frozen in place. But it seemed as though the old men had already guessed their intent. Graybeard, the one that held back, had turned and was yelling up at Zoro's dumbfounded executioners.
"Kill him! Kill him now!"
The cry jolted the others into action, but too late. The old men, deceptively spry and with skills learned throughout a century, had fallen upon them and each suddenly had to worry about saving their own lives. Smoker kept a firm grip on Luffy. Still bound with seastone, his captain couldn't hope to fight him off.
Zoro stared at the men standing over him. Should he fight? He could dodge one blade; probably avoid a deathblow from the second. Those nodachi were slow and cumbersome, used mainly on ceremony. At this point they were being held more like spears than swords, the men that carried them being too shocked to think clearly. Zoro could overtake these scared and shiftless men in seconds.
But as his eyes met Luffy's, he realized he wouldn't. Luffy hadn't looked away, not even when Brook and his rescue crew had broken in on the scene. The Pirate King's gaze was glued to Zoro, his eyes trying to deny everything, and failing. Zoro stared back at Luffy until he thought something would break. He couldn't look away, even as the men above him moved into position.
This would be his apology.
The swords arced down and time seemed to freeze. The blades reflected the sun with blinding radiance. Zoro felt a hot breeze touch his cheek; he heard the gulls crying in the bay, unconcerned with the dealing of humans. He could see the breath of blades, even when he closed his eyes. The last sound he heard was his captain's scream.
When the blows struck, Zoro didn't feel a thing.
tbc
